Monday or Is Justice situational?

It's time then, my son, to hoist the Black Skull and Crossbones high, let the World know that their time is nigh!

. . . . .Following the Thanksgiving weekend post that explained the Black Flag references and the legacy of the Lost 10th, (ed. note: Go to the left hand Archives column under Welcome to the World to grab it) we'll follow in that theme, that of trying to weave the pursuit of justice as an underlying theme for a while, as we get back to our normal political and cultural shenanigans. There's nothing like a long holiday weekend to divert you from the news, but it's time to get right back to it, especially considering some of the developments over the weekend and today: Mumbai, The automakers showing back up in DC today to join the growing list of financial debacles, Obama's unveiling of his security team, Sarah Palin prostituting herself for Saxby Chambliss down in Georgia (The Devil Went Down to Georgia, ya know, Charlie Daniels told us all so!) and Bill Kristol proving once again just what category of mouth-breathing moron he is, ranking right there with Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin.

. . . . .Today's soundtrack - Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - The B-side of Gil Scott-Heron's first single Home is Where The Hatred Is from the 1971 album Pieces of A Man. Yes, I like poetry, especially slam poetry and rap (some), just as much as I like rock, singer-songwriters and outlaw country. Rap and hip-hop are viable art forms and good music. Unfortunately, the political commentary of Paris, Common, DMX, NWA and before them Ice-T & Public Enemy gets overshadowed by other, less socially relevant work. Understanding that art reflects social conditions, and while we're starting off on a justice theme, to understand what's happening in urban conditions and how unbalanced social justice is, take a listen to some of these guys.

. . . . .Today's movie magic moment - "Believe me when I say we have a difficult time ahead of us. But if we are prepared for it, we must first shed our fear of it. I stand here, before you now, truthfully unafraid. Why? Because I believe something you do not? No, I stand here without fear because I remember. I remember that I am not here because of the path that lies before me but because of the path that lies behind me." - Morpheus - The Matrix Reloaded.

"The road goes on forever, and the party never ends" - Robert Earl Keen - The Road Goes On Forever
. . . . .I was not and am not now part of the growing chorus coming from the left that President-elect Obama's Federal financial, Federal Reserve, Treasury and Economic Recovery appointments "didn't go far enough", "weren't progressive enough" or "were more of the same", I think they're the right people for the job. That said, his announcement this morning of his Security, Defense and Foreign appointments absolutely wowed me, for a variety of reasons, I'm excited (and I'm reaching the point where I drop everything to listen to his daily press conferences), I highly recommend you click the link here and read the transcripts and watch and listen to the conference itself, and most especially Hillary Clinton's words, overall a very clear message was sent this morning, to the country, to the world, and to the the entrenched Bush doctrine acolytes that a sea change, a seismic shift occurred today in the world. I cried, out of relief, that these key positions were filled with people who are patriots, Americans & realists, in the truest senses of those words, I'm sure that once again, the Left will cry out about 3 of the appointments, since they are noted Dem hawks, but they're the people needed right now;
. . .Vice-President Elect Joe Biden - The question for weeks has been "What's Biden's role? He's not spoken since the election". Question is answered kiddies, answered loud and crystal clear this morning. His extensive Senate experience in foreign relations and with the military are what came into play here, and once again, Obama is playing to people's strengths and experience. Joe will lead this team well.
. . .Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State - key phrase from Obama's announcement "She will command respect in capitals around the world". This is a man who very carefully chooses his words and vocabulary. I agree with him, she commands respect. In her remarks this morning, an overall theme of regaining the world's respect for America, and acknowledging that we must work in partnership with others and asking for their help. "to secure our future, we must recognize that America needs the world, and the world needs America". Listen here.
. . .Robert Gates - Sec'y of Defense. A brilliant holdover, a true rebel, while working for Bush/Cheney for the last two years, he has called a military strike against Iran a "strategic calamity" and has denounced the "creeping militarization" of U.S. diplomacy. With wars being fought on two fronts, and the outgoing administration continuing it's sabre-rattling, (which will probably go on up to Jan. 19th). Key phrase from Obama's press conference: "The day I take office, the mission will change" He wants us out of Iraq, with the Iraqis controlling their own destiny, and in Afghanistan, where we should have been all along. It's only where the Taliban, Al-Queada, Bin Laden and Zawahiri live, but that never seemed to matter to Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld. Gates quote "Afghanistan is where the war on terror began, and where it must end".
. . . Retired Marine General James Jones -National Security Adviser - Again, a bipartisan pick, Jones worked for McCain at one point. As opposed to folks who want to call themselves mavericks, Jones is the real deal. Jones has called the Iraq war a "debacle" and has urged that the detention center at Gitmo (ed. note: one of our greatest national shames, a torture center) be closed "tomorrow".
. . .Eric Holder - U.S. Attorney General - It would be hard to find someone who was more of a 180 degree opposite of Ashcroft and Gonzales. Holder is committed to upholding the Constitution, guarding citizen's rights, and of just as much importance, (and they better view this as a warning bell) pursuing criminals in the board room with just as much vigor as criminals in the streets.
. . .Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano - Sec'y of Homeland Security - OK, this is another seismic one, that entire department better get ready to be turned upside down, shook hard and the deadwood, detritus and lint taken out of the corners. She will, I am confident, reform that department and turn into the Department of Homeland Security instead of the nightmarish 1984 George Orwell Department of State Security In Charge of Suspecting All Citizens as it exists now.

"The battery's dead and the phone won't charge, we don't even know where the hell we are, but that's the way it goes. Just doing my best to get back home" - Chris Knight - To Get Back Home - Enough Rope
. . . . .Over the weekend, Mumbai. What is it that makes us so egocentric and nationalist paranoid that out of over 200 killed, with the 5 Americans among them, we somehow want to make this into an attack on America and American interests? I deplore that it happened, I am saddened by the loss of life, all life, not just American citizens, but Indian citizens as well. The true question that needs to be asked, if we are to examine it in light of a terrorist act as it applies to us is what happened. This was 10 men, 10. Highly trained individuals with sophisticated weaponry and a very effective attack plan, that did an incredible amount of damage and inflicted massive casualties. This was not a group of rag-tag home grown guerillas, these were commandos, that took over 48 hours to subdue and a much larger contingent of Indian Army special forces and regulars. When it all comes out, my bet is that it will be found out that this was a state-sponsored attack by Pakistan, as it edges closer and closer to outright Taliban rule, designed to send a clear message to India about it's emulation of American ways. Mumbai, the former Bombay, is an equivalent to Los Angeles in that it's culture, city and lifestyle and the trendsetters for the rest of India. The scary part to me is that both India and Pakistan are members of the nuclear neighborhood.

. . . . .I wrote last week about Michael Medved's deplorable statements about Native Americans (ed. note: check the archives in the left hand column for last week's column about Michael Medved's claiming that the first, #1 big lie in American history is our treatment of Native Americans, that in his worldview, supported by "fact", no genocide occurred. It's a lot like saying that the Holocaust didn't occur.) I ask you please to read this column by Mark Anthony Rolo, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, whose column ends with, "Not a Thanksgiving has passed without Indians staring through America's dining room window". I also ask you please to go visit Michael Medved's heinous lie over at Townhall.com and leave him an e-mail and tell him what you think of his version of "The #1 American big lie".

"Well if she wants to see me, tell her that I'm easily found. Tell her there's a spot 'neath the Abrams bridge and there's a darkness on the edge of town" - Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town from album of the same name.
. . . . .These two are connected at the hip or some other body part. Sarah Palin is prostituting herself today down in Georgia, "exciting the base" (ed. note: is that code for something?) for Saxby Chambliss. She's getting blasted in her hometown newspaper for (1) leaving town in the middle of a budget crisis she caused (2) once again putting herself, her own political career and her ambitions ahead of her elected job and (3) plainly and simply supporting Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss, we all recall, during the Presidential election, told his white voters to "get out there, because the other folks are voting". Saxby Chambliss is a yellow coward and a liar. From the Alaska Daily News online:

"Chambliss was elected to the Senate in 2002 by running one of the most reprehensible campaigns of modern times. He was up against incumbent Democrat Sen. Max Cleland, a Vietnam War veteran who lost both legs and his right arm to a grenade during that conflict.

Chambliss avoided serving in Vietnam. He got four student draft deferments, and when his number finally came up, he was medically disqualified with knee troubles.

In the best Karl Rove fashion, Chambliss the draft-evader attacked Cleland the war hero for being soft on terrorism. Distorting Cleland’s votes about workplace rules for the new Homeland Security Department employees, Chambliss portrayed him as a tool of terrorists like Osama bin Laden.

Here’s how the Almanac of American Politics (2006) described it:
“Chambliss ran an ad, much attacked in the press, showing pictures of Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Max Cleland, and saying that Cleland 'voted against the President’s vital homeland security efforts 11 times.’” (Those “vital homeland security efforts” Cleland opposed were intended to strip homeland security employees of union rights and other workplace protections.)

The man who couldn’t bring himself to serve in the military said a man who left three limbs behind in war was a weakling who would turn the country over to terrorists."

. . . . .Along those lines, Bill Kristol (how in the hell can someone write for both the New York Times and the Weekly Standard?) Sarah Palin's biggest fan and apologist, is at it again. Andrew Sullivan points this one out from Kristol, wherein he doesn't just want Bush to pardon the Gitmo torturers, he thinks he should bestow the Medal of Freedom on them before leaving office?

"One last thing: Bush should consider pardoning--and should at least be vociferously praising--everyone who served in good faith in the war on terror, but whose deeds may now be susceptible to demagogic or politically inspired prosecution by some seeking to score political points. The lawyers can work out if such general or specific preemptive pardons are possible; it may be that the best Bush can or should do is to warn publicly against any such harassment or prosecution. But the idea is this: The CIA agents who waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and the NSA officials who listened in on phone calls from Pakistan, should not have to worry about legal bills or public defamation. In fact, Bush might want to give some of these public servants the Medal of Freedom at the same time he bestows the honor on Generals Petraeus and Odierno. They deserve it."

. . . . .This guy is a total mouth-breathing lunatic. Here he is at it again, Matthew Yglesias over at Think Progress points out that while also promoting new wars in North Korea, Syria, Iran and the Sudan (along with the two we're in) he wants just one more teensy little war before Bush leaves office:

"And while [Bush is] at it, perhaps he could tell various admirals to stop moaning about how difficult it would be to deal with the pirates off the coast of Somalia (isn’t keeping the shipping lanes open a core mission of the Navy?) and order the Navy to clobber them. If need be, the Marines would no doubt be glad to recapitulate their origins and join in by going ashore in Africa to destroy the pirates’ safe havens."

"The future started yesterday and we're already late" - John Legend - If You're Out There on the Evolver CD.
. . . . .There are some folks that I've talked to in some of the circles that I run in, sit with and talk with who want to label the current economic and financial crisis as "not real" or "it's not the real problem" or a "distraction" designed to keep us from exploring fundamentally, deeper core issues that are somehow more important. I love them, they're my friends, and I respect their opinion on many things, but to this one I must say, politely and respectfully, Bullshit, that's a load of ignorant crap!
Currency exchange has been a fundamental part of human society as far back as the Sumerians and Mesopotamia. The pursuit of economic justice cannot even begin without a basic realization of the economic injustice that has been perpetrated over the last 20 years, especially the last 8. In my ideal libertarian world, the free market would rule, without regulation or interference. Society would decide what was of worth and what wasn't, whose skills were valuable and whose weren't. It don't work that way people! We're human! And being human we are fundamentally flawed with that little thing called free will. In some people, greed and avarice overtakes the higher brain functions, and they willingly, sociopathically will harm others in the pursuit of their own personal wealth. It results in the situation we find ourselves in now. We must find answers, and we must find them fast. Without a sound financial structure, the supply siders and the amount and flow of money will dictate that the funding just plainly isn't there to pursue answers to climate change, global warming, hunger, homelessness, health care and myriad of social programs that the population of this country needs right fuckin' now! I say this to try and direct a little focus on what is real, and what is real ,right now, right here is that the markets are failing. In an absolute stroke of brilliance and mastery of the obvious, the National Bureau of Economic Research announced today that we, the nation, are in a major recession and have been so since December 2007 (ed. note: Remember folks, your tax dollars pay these brain donors salaries). The major manufacturing index this morning indicated that U.S. Manufacturing was at a 26 year low this last quarter. None of us has any answers alone, but in terms of consciousness, we cannot achieve any of the societal aims or social programs we so desperately need without a good, solid flow of currency and sound markets. We have a couple months left of this administration before the new Economic Recovery Team gets put in place. A lot of damage can be done, stay on your Senators and Representatives and ask for oversight and accountability in the billions that are being handed out like candy right now to the financial institutions that started this mess. The money cannot and should not go there; it needs to be put back into the societal infrastructure, into troubled mortgage assets and homeowners, into manufacturing, into roads and bridges, without which healthy commerce cannot flow.

I'm back in the game, but outta here for today, back out to sea in a day or so. Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Remember if you submit it, either comments or e-mail, I'll publish it. Keep sending those thoughts on "change" and let's salt in some "justice" for a while too.

The Desolation Angel