During our recent War on Christmas tantrum...

Oh, those evil liberals wanted to take away our Christmas. Blame the Jews, right? Civil liberties are for asshats, right?

Well, now it looks like the FBI can bug you through your own cell phones (thanks, B). As in, when you turn your phone off and put it in you pocket, they can listen to you. You think they're getting warrants for that?

We used to have a nice country, with civil liberties and everything. I hate George Bush. His record of poor judgment, and his contempt for the Constitution has been spectacular.

By the way, this whole 'listening' act that he's doing now is a stunt. We all know they've decided to up troop levels for the short term to try to extinguish violence all at once, instead of chasing it around from province to province.

Stupid man. Why didn't we send enough troops in 2003? Is there any possible way for him to answer that without him being an incompetent moron? Let's all say it together: insufficient intelligence.

We'll succeed unless we quit?

So, Bushy lands in Vietnam, and is asked about the war in Iraq, and he says,

"We'll succeed unless we quit."

I know it's no longer news when he says something stupid, but it's crazy on so many levels that he says this in Vietnam.

I don't even know where to start.




Later: bowling and Battlestar Galactica.

今天晚上我不上课。

Democratic House. Rummy steps down. Dems clinch Senate. First woman speaker; also first Italian American. First Muslim in Congress.

And finally, Bushy shows his ass. 'Measuring for drapes' is clever beltway-speak for when someone takes office and is itchin' to get to work. But Georgey, to us Blue state hicks outside the beltway, "Drapegate" makes you sound like a sexist pig, because a woman obviously is going to care more about interior decorating thas.... say, you pissing all over habeas corpus.... or maybe those bullshit wars that you started without an exit strategy....

See, now I'm getting all worked up, distracting myself writing about Bush's incompetence. The reason I started this post in the first place was to say that I'm skipping Mandarin class tonight to catch up with some grading.

Sigh. Anyway, this day has just been too eventful. I roamed the hallways today, whispering to teachers that had been in class the news about the Rummy. It was delicious.

Adiosito, don Donny

So the glorious liberation of Afganistan and Iraq (and the pretend war on Al Qaeda) is now without it's architect. As a blue blogger, it's kind of my duty to find an unflattering picture and mock the bastard mercilessly. I am absolutely not above doing that, but everyone else has beaten me to it.

But I don't want to cut into my naptime, so I will have a bowl of chili and just ask the reader a couple of questions...

1) Do you think it was Rummy's idea to resign? Do you think it's because he, personally did not want to spend a single day as SOD once the Dems had taken back the legislative branch (fingers crossed for the Senate)? Apparently he has offered his resignation twice before... Do you think it was his idea this time, or the Decider's?

2) Secretary of Defense... isn't the term archaic now, that we're using the military for pre-emptive strikes and regime change?

I will say this about Rummy and his friends; there is a lot of blood on his hands, and he is leaving the next guy a freaking quagmire.

Time now for a bowl of chili. Democratic chili. Anti-war chili, with onions and cheese.

George Bush: Go F**** Yourself.

A school bus driver was fired for giving the finger to President Bush, who saw it and told Dave Reichert. They fired the bus driver for setting a bad example.

Sigh. Our children are so precious that they need to be protected from political speech? It wasn't the kids who reported the gesture.... it was the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Did the kids even see it?

If anyone DESERVES to lose his job...

(ha ha, I can't believe I linked to the King County Journal!)

Why I resent Maria Cantwell

Don't worry, I'm not voting for Mike!.

But I do resent Maria Cantwell because in the fall of 2003, I emailed her and called her office, asking her not to give away the Congress' constitutional power to declare war. She emailed me a long lecture about how Saddam Hussein was dangerous, and then ultimately voted to let Georgie decide.

Dude, if Saddam Hussein is so dangerous, then Congress itself should declare war! Don't leave it up to W the Fratboy!

So that's why I resent her.

The Death of The Republic

If you hear church bells tolling, it's because the United States of America has fallen. You heard it first at Jesus General; Bitch PhD has called it here and here.

I took high school civics. I know that without habeas corpus, the authority of any government is basically might makes right. Foreign nationals living legally in the USA may be declared an enemy combatant (definition to be determined by the President) and then detained indefinitely.

American citizens, too can be classified as 'enemy combatants' if they give material support to 'the enemy.' See? You don't even have to actually be an 'enemy' or a 'combatant.'

We are not 'one step away' from witch hunts, or UnAmerican hearings, folks, we have leapt PAST that step. Accused witches and communists at least got a hearing, however phoney. Now we just lock them up, and torture is not out of the question.

Today on NPR, I heard that the enemey combatants who are American citizens get more rights than others. So "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights...." Eh, not so self-evident any more, apparently.

And 'innocent until proven guilty in a court of law'? Ha ha ha!

The terrorists hate our freedoms? No problem, the Administration is taking our freedoms away.

The Republic is dead. The grand experiment in Democracy has failed.

I'm not sure if you're reaching for the Roman allusion(s) or the Star Wars one, but we let this one happen, folks. Some of you voted for it. So you're not going to blame this one on decadence, or homosexuals, or the Sith. We did this to ourselves.

Well folks, maybe the decline and fall won't be spectacular and apocalyptic. Maybe we've just become and old world country, with no real vision of liberty, a spotted history of freedom and atrocity. Maybe we've just become the same ol' old world country that the yearning masses longing to to be free were running from in the first place.

I'm not so naive to think that the USA was ever really that paradise of ideals, but it seems like before GWB, we were trying to be. Forgive me if it has always been this bleak under Republicans.

"Resorting to Manners"

(I don't have time to look for links right now, but I'm publishing a draft so I don't forget. If you'd like to help me with links, please use the comment section. )

A very wise person (ding) once told me that when the non-brown people run out of arguement, they "resort to manners." By calling someone impolite, they manage to not engage valid points.

For example, once my friend was complaining to me about how Native Americans in Washington have explicit treaty rights to collect shellfish from private property. I said, 'it's a treaty man.' He protested, saying that they should break the treaty to protect private property owners, and I said something like "the United States of America is incapable of upholding a treaty with the Native Americans." He got annoyed, and then called me rude. "You're rude!"

He resorted to manners. That's all he had left.

In high school, I was the president of the ASB, and the newspaper editor came to us halfway through the year, saying that they had spent their budget and they needed $4000 to continue. The student government approved it, but I sent a valentine to the newspaper saying that they should be more responsible. They came back with my valentine the next issue of the paper in two editorials, one by the editor, and one by the FACULTY ADVISOR, saying my note was "unpresidential." What a joke. First of all, nobody cared. Second, the newspaper got off lucky, I should have vetoed that bailout; THAT would have been presidential.

They resorted to manners. That's all they had left.

Now our friend Condi poo-poohs Venezolano president Hugo Chavez for criticizing Bushy-poo, saying his rant is unbecoming. Resorting to manners. That's all she's got.

(is anyone even going to bother to ask why I'm applying this generalization about non-brown people to the most prominant African American in our government?)

You know what I think is unbecoming a head of state? Lying about going to war. Detaining people without habeas corpus. Looking for ways to torture foreigners. Sending loyal, patriotic men and women to die in a war we didn't need to start. Wanting to enshrine homophobia and discrimination in federal law.

It's not that I hate the man. But he is worse than bad at his job. He does not uphold the constitution; he subverts it. He does not protect the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness; he puts people in the line of fire.

I don't think he understand what it means to uphold and protect the Constitution. I think he's upholding and protecting the myth of the "Don't mess with Texas" America that exists in his own hard head.

Or maybe he just is as evil as the people surround him.

"Fascists," Mr. Rumsfeld? Pot to Kettle: "You're black!"

Rumsfeld equates opponents of this war to Nazi sympathizers. What a bunch of fascists!

The Bush Administration's attempt to demonize their critics as fascists is laughable, and ironically, facsist. I wanted to go off on them (are they idiots, or evil, or both?) but Keith Olbermann did it quicker and better.　(Thanks, A!)

In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised? As a child, of whose heroism did he read? On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight? With what country has he confused the United States of America?

Thursday thoughts.

So I guess Soul Assylum had a free concert down at Pike Place today to celebrate the Market's 99th year.

Can we all pronounce together? PIKE. (no S!) Place. Market. PIKE. There is no "S" in Pike.

Stop saying "pike's." Thanks.
______

So I heard today on NPR a soundbite of a Chinese diplomat saying "Why blame China? Forget it! It's high time you learn to just SHUT UP." Why did our friend say this? Because the Bush Administration was criticizing China for building up it's navy.

Maybe I'm remembering the details wrong, but I have to agree with the Chinese diplomat. Who the hell is America, telling people not to build their own military? Really, the stupidity (not to mention the hypocrisy) of the argument doesn't merit a diplomatic answer. American foreign policy is too stupid to take seriously.
______

A commenter on my other blog, 我很有意思! wrote in to let me know that I needed to stop using the word 日, which is used in the word "journal" and "Japan," but in some contexts, means the F-word. Oops. I've gone through and corrected my previous entries with the correct hanzi, "热,"which I should have used in the first place. I mean, 日isn't even the right pinyin! chuh!
______

I got a haircut today. I was working on a bushy, floppy mop. When I sat in the chair, I told the lady, I want a DIFFERENT haircut. I'm tired of the standard short on the sides and back, lay down flat in the front with a part on the left side that I always get. The Standard Asian Haircut.

Make me look like a Japanese cartoon superhero, I said! Or even make me look like a coconut, it doesn't matter, just not the same as before.

At the end, when I put on my glasses, I had the Standard Asian Haircut, short on the sides and back, lay down flat in the front, part on the left side. I looked like my grandfather's portrait. Again.

Oh well, better luck next time. The good news is that I filled up my punch card. The next Standard Asian Haircut is free!
______

Hey, everyone, warantless wiretaps are illegal! Who knew! Actually, I knew. These people swore an oath.... to protect US sovereignty at whatever the cost? No, actually, their oath was to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

Sorry, kids, the U.S. Constitution is what MAKES. US. AMERICAN. You would distroy our way of life in order to save it. Do you think we're gonna hear an apology from the people who wanted to curtail our rights in the name of security? Nah, they'll probably just accuse the activist judges of being soft on security, and then win another election.



I don't know what's going to become of Lt. Watada and his refusal to fight an illegal war. They want to get him for conduct unbecoming an officer... saying mean things about his superiors. What I wonder is if there even exists a way for a man who honestly believes that the war is illegal to object to it. What would they have wanted him to do? Yes, fight, but if he objects? What was he supposed to have done? He asked for a discharge, they said no.

They'll probably send him to jail for longer than his deployment would have been. They'll put him away. But seriously, conduct unbecoming an officer? Maybe if he pooped on someone's chest on tv or something, but all he did was say that he would disobey an order he considered illegal and immoral. Isn't that what an officer is supposed to do?
______

Hail Britannia

I just want to say that I have very little faith that the Bush guvermnt is protecting us, the American people. And although Tony Blair is Bush's lap dog, I have to say I still hold him in high esteem, for his ability to hold his own at Parliament every week (imagine Bush facing the Congress!). Also, I remember Blair's words of comfort after the September 11 attacks, real, intelligent comforting words full of resolve, (compared to Bush's "let's git 'em" bs).

Who is defending liberty and the western way of life? The British. The Americans are too busy not understanding that the Afgans and the Iraqis are not interested in being American. Yes, British law enforcement may not be as constrained as American law enforcement is supposed to be (but is not because of the Patriot Act) but I just trust the British more to guarantee civil liberties I just do. Maybe Americans have the ACLU, but shit, we also have Guantanamo Bay. We have people in the White House who think torture is acceptable and habeas corpus is an inconvenience.

No one is going to accuse the Republican government that they "hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Sure, these words apply to rich white guys, but not to the people who pick their vegetables, or muslims, or anyone who may be standing in the way of rich white guys getting richer.

I have to do my homework now, no more time to work on this entry. I just want to say that the British are representing. I'm glad they didn't become victims to the liquid bombers.

Low Point in the Blogging Cycle.

We've all been there. Interesting stuff happens, but we're too busy to blog, or it just feels like a chore to have to put something out there.

Last week was the awful shooting at the Jewish Federation in Belltown. There's two directions I'm thinking about following. The first is that whole "Fight 'em over there, so we don't have to fight 'em over here." The second is how the shooter had been baptized christian, a fact that sends that pangit Malkin grasping at straws (sorry, I refuse to link to that diseased gorilla). Something tells me she's not so hard on Mel Gibson's anti-semitic tirade..... Sure, he didn't shoot anyone, but you have to admit, we're talking about degrees of hatred; the hatred itself is not in question.

One of my classmates in Chinese class loves to make jokes about communism, and how funny it is. Our laoshi is not always find it funny, and today when it started to get weird, my other classmate started reading out loud from the textbook. I love that class! I'm sad that it's coming to an end.

I just want to do my Chinese homework and play my computer game. I don't want to face the orthodontist (I'm totally about to get braces again). I want the re-fi to be finished. I'm coming to a crossroads in my "music" career, suddenly big opportunities but no inspiration. The school year is about to start again; time to get into the 'stance.' I missed half a blood pressure pill last night. Sigh.

Well, if you ever needed to be reminded of American air superiority, you should come to Seattle this week. The Blue Angels are screaming across the sky all this week, to the delight of all of us, right? Just think, in some parts of the world that sound means death from above! We're so powerful.

I'm toying with the idea of writing about how to successfully learn a language. It might actually be a list of terrible habits that keep people from learning. If language learning is an instinct (and it is), then it may be more helpful to look at the ways people manage to sabotage that instinct.

Woe unto you, o W.

Chuck Currie is the director of community outreach at Portland’s First Congregational United Church of Christ, and a leading homeless advocate.

Here's his post about how poverty has grown under W.

Personally, I think poor people are essential to Republican identity. In order to construct themselves as a priviledged class, they have to create an underprivileged class for contrast.

Once my friend Republican B told me he'd never buy a house on Capitol Hill. The reason? Because it's not separated geographically from the Central District, which is the part of town that decayed after white flight and the crack epidemic. It used to be called "Washington Park" and it was a desired address, but then the white people left. Republican B was pretty smug about the inevitability of the eventual decay of Capitol Hill.

Well, in the last 10 years, the CD has gentrified and revitalized. It's probably still not "cute" enough for the conservatives.

I Can Change Some Lightbulbs

I just got back from Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth.

The entire time I was mentally comparing the vast government denial with someone ignoring a health problem for years, say blood pressure... (it was 128/80 this afternoon.

It's time to stop relying on the hippies and the tree hugging new agers to save the world. The ice flows in Antarctica and Greenland could collapse catastrophically tomorrow.

The message can no longer be 'change your lightbulbs, buy a hybrid.' Americans love to save the world as individuals, but now we need environmentalism on an industrial level.

We have to limit carbon emissions, we have to protect forests, and we have to find renewable sources of energy, and we're not going to achieve all these things by eating granola. We have to act politically.

The Republicans know. They KNOW that this planet's coastlines could be different a year from now. They KNOW. They are just going to make their money and broker their power, and when the sea levels rise, they will step aside and let other people clean up their mess.

For those of us that have been looking for a prophet, Al Gore is a voice in the wilderness. Whether or not he creates a movement, whether or not he can manage to change history will depend on us. Maybe Big Oil will assasinate him.

Can somebody remind me again why Bushie backed out of Kyoto? Moron.