History And Its Discontents

As y'all probably already know, if you're following this Cat's annual Book List & Review over at the sisterblog, we've been reading a lot of history over the past few years, and it has been extremely — extremely very — educational, indeed. We are shoved into schools, as children, not necessarily so much for the purposes of educating our eager young minds as to function as a sort of childcare-cum-penitentiary in which we are prepared for our future as obedient tools of the state. Learning to function in 50-minute segments, to slice-and-dice our attention into suitable spans, to absorb unquestioningly whatever the school system and our local school board shall deem it fit in their infinite lack of wisdom to shovel down our youthful throats.

No one questions this pablum, this feeding-tube of culture and knowledge that is piped directly into our veritable livers of learning, fattening us like those unfortunate foie-gras geese on things that mold our minds and early impressions, but travel under the radar, placing seeds in that fertile soil that are never questioned again.

Some of us are fortunate enough to be raised in homes that value education and the written word for its own benefits. But what about the hundreds of thousands of us who are lucky to complete twelve years of basic education, if that? Those individuals are wandering around with a worldview that is not even close to what those of us fortunate enough — or determined enough, or lucky enough — to educate ourselves further have developed.

Hell, even those of us who are educated better sometimes slip into the easy language of that early pablum. What have Americans been taught about the foundation of this country?

Tonight, PBS will be screening a documentary on General Custer, the stupid schmuck who has come down to us through the ages as the "hero" of "Custer's Last Stand." It's good to know that there are many white (and Black) Americans who have educated themselves on the true nature of this country's founding, and on the genocide of the Native tribes. But the local fishwrap carried a TV review column today by one Dave Weigand, who we must presume is an educated American. Educated sufficiently to find employ with the local fishwrap, in a time when nearly ten per cent of the nation's employable individuals are struggling to find employment. Here, for your enjoyment, are some gems from his recent review.

"After the war, Custer and his wife, Libbie, moved to Fort Riley, Kan., where Custer would head the 7th Cavalry as part of the government's effort to deal with the growing problem of Indians."

No, seriously. This is what passes for an educated reviewer's comment. What, exactly, does the writer mean by "the growing problem of Indians"? Were Indians suddenly becoming taller? Fatter? Experiencing a population explosion? The writer doesn't bother to explain what the term means. You, the reader, are left to figure it out for yourself, to ask your own questions, find out your own information, come to your own conclusions.

But this is a film/tv review, not a history examination or a job interview. We read movie reviews to be entertained, to be amused, to enjoy ourselves in a moment of leisure, slouched in our favourite chair. We're not going to bother to ask questions about what we're reading. So what do we do with this phrase, "the growing problem of Indians"? We file it away in our mental cabinets and the next time we're talking to someone or writing email or writing in our journals or blogs or FB walls, we might mention that "a growing problem with Indians" caused Custer's last stand. Suddenly, we've gone from being killed for killing other people and trying to steal their land to having "a growing problem with Indians" causing the death of an American hero. And this piece of information continues to colour anything we read or hear or see about Native Americans. We "know" that "the government" had a "growing problem" with "Indians." Even though we really don't know anything at all. No facts have been imparted to us, our store of knowledge about the Native people, or the white Americans of that day, the number of protagonists and antagonists, is richer by not one iota. Instead, what we have is an assumption that masquerades as fact. One of that family of statements that lives in the land of "Everyone knows" and "they say."

"While, in general, politicians in Washington hoped that the Indians could be contained, the sentiment in the West was to eradicate them, especially after gold was discovered in the Black Hills, on the Sioux reservation."

Again, we're not actually being given any information here. "In general" is a nice way of saying "I'm not going to tell you how many." Not that we need to know. And what does it mean, to "be contained"? Is that the same as being "killed"? Eradicated? Rounded up on reservations? Why not just admit that the Americans of the time longed to seize the land of the Native people? Because that IS what we're talking about, you know. It's not as if he doesn't say that exact thing in the very next sentence, either.

"As civilization advanced the frontier towards the Pacific ..."

This one got to me. The assumption that the greedy people who were simply looking for new frontiers to exploit,new forests to cut down, new natives to shoot and steal the land from, that these wretches and scoundrels and flim-flam men had any right to be seen as the forces of civilization, is nothing short of ridiculous, and outright offensive. Mind you, I'm not arguing the concept of the Noble Savage, here. The nobility, or lack thereof, on the part of the savage has no bearing whatsoever on the civilization or lack thereof of those who would exploit, rape, and murder him.

In short, Weigand appears to conclude that Custer was done in by "manifest destiny," without ever bothering to explain that "manifest destiny" is that doctrine that justifies the bloody imperialistic genocide of the Natives, the First Nations of this land, and the theft of their land, as well as the war with Mexico to take by force that land that now constitutes the whole of the present-day United States of America. I guess it sounds a lot less appealing to say that Custer died because he believed that Native Americans should be exterminated and their lands stolen by force. I can't imagine why.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. and #OccupyWallStreet

The war in VietNam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing clergy- and laymen-concerned committees for the next generation. We will be marching and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy.

In 1957 a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. [...] With such activity in mind, the words of John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken — by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment.

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. When machines and computers, profits and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice that produces beggars needs re-structuring. A true revolution of values will soon look easily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries and say: "This is not just." It will look upon our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

[...]

These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wombs of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light." We in the West must support these revolutions. It is a sad fact that, because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch-anti-revolutionaries.

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The Right Value Is Truth

The right value is honesty.



La Casa de Los Gatos don't know about you, and how you might feel about homophobia, but we can tell you how we feel. We here are goddamn sick and fucking tired of all these closeted dickheads fucking around with OUR lives.

Just this month, we've had closeted homophobe Roberto Arango* posting pictures of his rectum to a hookup site. A fucking HOOKUP site! Where gay/bi men post for quickie casual fucks. If you're gonna bully other men for supposedly being gay, Roberto, you shouldn't be posting your starfish as an invitation to any swingin' dick within ten miles, know what I'm sayin'? Is that too much to ask, you arrogant asshole? Nobody really cares, Roberto, that you like to have another man's throbbing cock in your ass. Just don't fucking rub our faces in it after REPEATEDLY voting against our rights, you miserable piece of shit.

And look, what have we here? ANOTHER fucking Republican legislator caught with his dick hanging out? With a teenage boy?

His defense? "I'm not gay. I don't know why I did what I did."

I'll tell you why, you dumb fuck. Because you are gaygaygayer than a flock of fucking larks. You were so hungry for that pretty boy's 18-year-old body, his slender shoulders, muscular thighs, bubble butt, beautiful satiny dark skin. That's why. You were dying to stick your cock in him and his cock in you and to fuck until you both lost your minds. That's why.

Phil Hinkle's constituents think he should resign -- for being gay? For lying about it? For working so hard against the rights of gay people? This is the guy, incidentally, who is responsible for the "In God We Trust" license plate legislation in his home state. So, Phil, "In God We Trust" for what? For keeping anyone else from finding out that our cock throbs for teenage boys? Sounds like you spent all your time in the legislature on bogus legislation like this, and keeping gays from marrying. Have a good time on the unemployment line, you dumb fuck.

Phil says he's not running again. We say, "Not unless it's from his constituents."

So, homophobic Republican legislators? It's OK for you to fuck us, literally, and then fuck us virtually by denying us equal rights? Because, you know, all that shit y'all are continually spouting about "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," in the Declaration of Independence that you fucking claim to fucking worship? And all that crap in the Constitution about equality? You're not applying it to us, are you, when you vote against our right to marry and have families?

It's time for war on your hypocritical asses, y'all. Just come out of the fucking closet, admit who and what you are, and start acting like people, not ignorant fucking homophobes, OK? Because if you don't? It will be the civic duty of each and every one of us to do our best to expose you.

You hear that, girlzNboyz? If you've been schtupping a Republican legislator, it's time to let the whole world know. Start with the newspapers.

And now, to take the edge off, the gorgeous and brilliant Sara Benincasa sticks it to MishMash BatShitKrayZMann. Enjoy!

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Rick Santorum Wins

TWO awards!

World's Biggest Fucking Crybaby WHINER
Dan Savage's PayAttentionToYourName Slapfest

YAY, DAN!

Dan Savage's New Threat to Rick Santorum from Dan Savage

Now, Rick, don't get all huffy and LIE and pretend you don't know why the gay community is upset with you, you smarmy little shit. You know damn well your nasty, homophobic, closeted little mind has been squeaking forever about how much you HATE the gay. Judging from the number of gayhaters who have been exposed as complete and total fucking SISSYMARY QUEENS, it's probably time you shut up about that already, before Dan takes you out, or your boyfriend finally speaks up.

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OUT Of The Closets and Into The STREETS!!!!

Yay! New York just signed the Gay Marriage Bill, people, so what are you waiting for? Time to PAR-TAY DOWN!

FTA: "Republican Sen. Stephen Saland, who had been undecided about the bill and was one of the legislators who led the negotiations, announced during the debate on the Senate floor that he would support the bill, effectively giving it the 32 votes it needed to pass."

Everybody be sure to send a thank-you note to Rep. Saland, who will be targeted by homophobes for his support. He did the right thing, and it will cost him unless we all translate our thankyous into support at the polls. Thank you, Rep. Saland, for making this day happen!

TalkingPointsMemo has the details. And be sure to check out their pic of the celebrations at STONEWALL!!! Hai-yaah!

A great big huge gigantinormous thank you to Joshua Micah Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo who brought us this wonderful reportage.

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In Honour of Labouring Folks Everywhere

Today, we celebrate Labour Day (which, everywhere else in the world, is celebrated on May 1st, also known as Lady Day) with a little ditty from the Great Depression. No doubt it will warm the cockles of every heart that has experienced these fine characters, especially of late.


Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

1.
I'm an autocratic figure in these democratic states,
A dandy demonstration of hereditary traits.
As the children of the baker bake the most delicious breads,
As the sons of Casanova fill the most exclusive beds,
As the Barrymores, the Roosevelts, and others I could name
Inherited the talents that perpetuate their fame,
My position in the structure of society I owe
To the qualities my parents bequeathed me long ago.
My pappy was a gentleman, and musical to boot,
He used to play piano in a house of ill repute.
The madam was a lady, and a credit to her cult.
She enjoyed my pappy's playing, and I was the result!
So my mammy and my pappy are the ones I have to thank
That I'm Chairman of the Board of the National Silly Bank!

Chorus:
Oh, our parents forgot to get married,
Oh, our parents forgot to get wed,
Did a wedding bell chime, it was always a time
When our parents were somewhere in bed.
Then all thanks to our kind loving parents,
We are kings in the land of the free.
Your banker, your broker, your Washington joker,
Three prominent bastards are we, tra la,
Three prominent bastards are we!

2.
In a cozy little farmhouse in a cozy little dell,
A dear old-fashioned farmer and his daughter used to dwell.
She was pretty, she was charming, she was tender, she was mild,
And her sympathy was such that she was frequently with child.
The year her hospitality attained a record high
She became the happy mother of an infant, which was I.
Whenever she was gloomy I could always make her grin
By childishly inquiring who my daddy could have been.
The hired man was favored by the girls in Mummy's set
And a trav'ling man from Scranton was an even money bet.
But such were Mammy's motives, and such was her allure,
That even Roger Babson wasn't altogether sure.
Well I took my mother's morals and I took my daddy's crust,
And I grew to be the founder of the New York Blanker's Trust.

Chorus:
Oh, our parents forgot to get married,
Oh, our parents forgot to get wed,
Did a wedding bell chime, it was always a time
When our parents were somewhere in bed.
Then all thanks to our kind loving parents,
We are kings in the land of the free.
Your banker, your broker, your Washington joker,
Three prominent bastards are we, tra la,
Three prominent bastards are we!

3.
In a torrid penal chain gang on a dusty southern road,
My late lamented daddy had his permanent abode.
Now some were there for stealing, but my daddy's only fault
Was an overwhelming tendency for criminal ault.
His philosophy was simple and quite free of moral taint:
Seduction is for sissies, but a he-man wants his rape.
Daddy's total list of victims was embarrassingly rich,
And one of them was Mother, but he couldn't tell me which.
Well I didn't go to college, but I got me a degree.
I reckon I'm the model of a perfect S.O.B.
I'm a debit to my country but a credit to my Dad,
The most expensive senator the country ever had.
I remember Daddy's warning -- that raping is a crime,
Unless you rape the voters a million at a time.

Chorus:
Oh, our parents forgot to get married,
Oh, our parents forgot to get wed,
Did a wedding bell chime, it was always a time
When our parents were somewhere in bed.
Then all thanks to our kind loving parents,
We are kings in the land of the free.
Your banker, your broker, your Washington joker,
Three prominent bastards are we, tra la,
Three prominent bastards are we!

4.
I'm an ordinary figure in these democratic states,
A pathetic demonstration of hereditary traits.
As the children of the cop possess the flattest kind of feet,
As the daughter of the floozie has a waggle to her seat,
My position at the bottom of society I owe
To the qualities my parents bequeathed me long ago.
My father was a married man and, what is even more,
He was married to my mother -- a fact which I deplore.
I was born in holy wedlock, consequently by and by,
I was rooked by every bastard who had plunder in his eye.
I invested, I deposited, I voted every fall,
And I saved up every penny and the bastards took it all.
At last I've learned my lesson and I'm on the proper track:
I'm a self-appointed bastard and I'M GOING TO GET IT BACK!

Chorus:
Oh, our parents forgot to get married,
Oh, our parents forgot to get wed,
Did a wedding bell chime, it was always a time
When our parents were somewhere in bed.
Then all thanks to our kind loving parents,
We are kings in the land of the free.
Your banker, your broker, your Washington joker,
Three prominent bastards are we, tra la,
Three prominent bastards are we!

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I Always Said Yoo Was A Bumwad

Photo from Gawker

And now activist Matt Cornell has given us Yoo toilet paper to remind students and visitors alike to Boalt Hall's terlets that Yoo has treated the United Nations Convention Against Torture, ratified by the United States in 1987 (under St. Ronald of Reagan? Can it be?), as his own personal bumwad.

Pity the TP doesn't have his likeness printed on it, but I understand those colored dyes ain't too good for your bunghole anyway.

Feel free to visit Mr. Cornell's site to find out more about what you can do to fight against the use of torture.

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World: Uganda Wants Death Penalty For LGBTQ

The Huffington Post is reporting that, following visits by conservative American Christians, lawmaker David Bahati of Uganda is proposing a sweeping law aimed at LGBTQ Ugandans that includes life imprisonment or the death penalty for being gay, as well as severe penalties for those who rent homes to, employ, or fail to report homosexuals to the authorities:

The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. "Serial offenders" also could face capital punishment, but the legislation does not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.

Anyone who "aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality" faces seven years in prison if convicted. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with "religious, political, economic or social authority" who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.

While some African journalists and bloggers are characterizing the proposed legislation as aimed at those who knowingly infect others, especially children, with HIV, it is not clear that they are referring to the same legislation as the bill sponsored by Bahati. A request for clarification has not received a response.

Although Bloomberg has since reported in an update from its Kampala bureau that both the proposed death penalty and life imprisonment have been dropped from the bill, this might well be a reaction to the outcry in other countries against this hideous legislation.

Peter Kent, Canadian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, has characterized the bill as "vile and hateful," and has stated that Canada would raise the issue with its Ugandan counterparts at a Commonwealth summit held in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend.

This blog agrees. The proposed legislation is against all ethics and all human rights laws, nationally and internationally. You simply *cannot* execute people for being who/what they are. Science has shown that homosexuality is genetically determined.

What You Can Do

The United States currently gives Uganda approximately $60 million annually in aid. Please contact your legislator and request that such aid be made contingent upon Uganda's observation of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Please also contact the Ugandan Embassy in your country and voice your opposition to this law *politely*. You can reach the Ugandan Embassy in the U.S. here. You can also contact the Uganda Human Rights Commission to urge them to act on this. According to AllAfrica.com, Uganda is a signatory to the UDHR. Thank you.

Under Article 51 of the Constitution of Uganda, the UHRC, among other functions is mandated to monitor the government's compliance with Constitutional provisions and international human rights instruments on human rights. It is their duty to ensure that Mr. Bahati and President Museveni adhere to human rights standards.

Gay Americans are taxpayers, and we resent our taxes paying for the oppression and murder of our brothers and sisters anywhere in the world.

Christians, if you believe what Your Teacher taught, now is the time to speak up and stand with your gay brothers and sisters. Jesus would not have condoned the killing of people who have committed no wrong. If you feel it is wrong for a person to love someone of the same gender, remember that it is for your God, and not you, to judge. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I shall repay.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, said your Jesus. Do not let your brethren in the fundamentalist church drag you all into opprobrium by condemning others to death.

In case you haven't seen it, Rachel Maddow has done a yeoman job of reportage on the event.

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War Crimes: Never Forget

Ishii Shiro

If you want to know why this Cat hasn't posted much of late, you should read about Ishii Shiro. Who, you might ask, is Ishii Shiro? And why should he keep a Cat from blogging politics?

WARNING: Graphic subject matter.

The preceding link takes you to a Wikipedia entry on Ishii. The information there is scant, and only linked so that you, should you choose to follow the link, will know who this man is. However, the article glosses over the fact that Ishii Shiro was a monster equalling any the world has ever known, in depth of depravity if not scope. He may not have murdered as many people as Hitler, Stalin, or Pol Pot, but that was for lack of opportunity, not intent.

For those who don't want to click the link, here are a few basic facts: Ishii Shiro was a microbiologist who joined the Japanese Imperial Army before its criminal aggressions in World War II. He was ultimately promoted to the rank of General. He started a military unit tasked with bacteriological and chemical warfare. In the course of his tenure at this unit (the infamous Unit 731), Ishii authorized and conducted experiments on living human beings, including babies. These experiments included bombing live humans, then observing their sufferings for weeks as the shrapnel from such bombs infected the test subjects with various bacteria, including plague, cholera, typhus, and the like. He authorized and performed vivisection on political prisoners and prisoners of war and unfortunate people seized for various reasons, or for no reason at all, by the Kempeitai, that group of sadists and malign misanthropes often miscalled "the Japanese military police."

Vivisection at Unit 731

Note the unfortunate subject's hands, bound, as he is being cut open while still alive and conscious.

You will ask why I chose to read about Unit 731. Quite honestly, I put off reading the book as long as I could. It was not pleasant reading. However, I highly recommend that anyone who would claim the label of pacifist, anyone who believes in non-violence, or ahimsa, anyone who opposes war, do the same.

We cannot fight a thing if we don't know what it is. Saying "war is evil" without knowing anything about war is mere bloviation.

War has been part of the human condition since the first proto-human brained his brother (literal or otherwise) with a rock as they fought over access to scarce resources.

Today our capacity to make war threatens every living thing on this planet. We could destroy our entire planet many times over, although it only needs destroying once to make the issue moot.

It bothers me that, of late, nearly every article on astronomy I read in scientific publications seems to contain the assumption that we are looking for a new home, a new planet to house our discordant species. Are we so close to the destruction of this, our home? Is there some plan afoot about which we, the labouring masses, know nothing and guess little? And, should we find it necessary to leave this planet, are we only taking with us the seeds of our future destruction?

We are still involved in two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan. When we elected Barack Obama to the highest office in the land, he promised us that the troops would be coming home soon.

I have plenty of respect and admiration for President Obama. He's doing a great job, given the mess he inherited. But while we are drawing down troops in Iraq, and finally bringing them home; while we are closing for good that monument to the fall from grace of America The Once-Beautiful, the torture chambers of Guantanamo Bay Prison; while we have finally resolved the amorphous and overly-broad scope of the "War Against Terror" into a mission to seek and destroy Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, his evil stepchild — I cannot but be troubled over our sending more troops to Afghanistan.

I understand that in order to safeguard itself and attain its objective, the US/NATO force currently in Afghanistan does require reinforcements. And it will be no easy task to finally clean up the mess that our Former Dear Leader Dick "they call me Dick for a reason" Cheney/Gee, Dumb? Yeah! Bouchebag and that ambulatory purulence, Donald Rumsfeld, left behind in Afghanistan.

I understand we can't just pull our military out all over the world and "bring the troops home" en masse, no matter how much we want to. We must ensure that those troops have something to come home to — jobs, or opportunities therefor, at least; the rescaling and restructuring of the military; training that will allow members of the military to do something very different than what they've been doing for the past X years. Medical issues, contract issues, benefits, all have to be managed, and with minimum disruption.

Most importantly, I believe that, although a standing army is pretty much required of any nation in this day and age, we need — we all need — to learn how to be a nation at peace. The military budget is destroying this country. We are spending millions on machines that have only one purpose: to kill or maim other human beings.

Most of us find the thought of killing and injuring other people distasteful. If we did not, there would be no need to demonize the enemy. Apparently, we don't find it distasteful enough to stop our country from becoming a vast military-industrial Moloch that grinds our own children to death in its jaws. We sacrifice the best of ourselves, our humanity, our health, our lives, and the lives of others, casually, to feed the beast. And the same people who support the burgeoning military budget complain at having to spend less than one-fifth of that amount to ensure the nation's health. (FYI: 2009 military budget: $515 billion. Estimated yearly expenditure on the public option: $90 billion annually.)

The time has come for that to end. This means we all need to learn, to see, to feel, to think, without equivocation, without flinching, about war. About exactly what it is.

And this is what it is. Torture, sadism, cruelty, inhumane acts, evil. War represents the worst in the human spirit, that allows us to justify killing old men, blowing up pregnant women, blowing limbs off little children.

Could you cut open a living human being? Dr. Ishii could. He did. He ordered his subordinates to, as well. You might say, "But I am not responsible for Dr. Ishii. This happened many years ago, and I was not even alive, at the time."

This is why you cannot plead that defense: Dr. Ishii and the scientists of Unit 731 were never prosecuted for their crimes. In return for access to their research on live human subjects — experiments forbidden by any code of ethics — Douglas MacArthur, and through him the United States of America, offered these war criminals full immunity from prosecution.

What Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, and their cohorts authorized in Iraq and Afghanistan bears plenty of resemblance (perhaps they didn't go as far as vivisection, although we don't yet know) to what was done by Unit 731. And these war criminals continue to walk among us, scot-free.

Here, for your delectation, some excerpts from this exceptional chronicling of Unit 731, Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in World War II, by Peter Williams and David Wallace:

The unit was referred to under a number of different names at different times: Ishii Unit; Manchuria 25202 Unit; Kwantung Army Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Unit.

...

One of Ishii's dreams could come true — doctors in combat alongside the glorious infantry.

Doctors in combat. Those who take an oath to preserve health and life, serving alongside, and assisting, those sworn to take both health and life from anyone they, or their superiors, identify as "the enemy." Ishii set up his headquarters at P'ing Fan, in Manchuria. It was by order of the Japanese Emperor of the time, Hirohito, that the size of the detachment was fixed at 3,000 personnel.

Ever since his trip to Europe, plague had fascinated Ishii. ... Plague could create casualties often out of all proportion to the number of bacteria disseminated. Ishii deduced, therefore, that it would make an efficient weapon and set about preparing the most dangerous strains. He looked to history, to the great plagues that had ravaged continents and delighted in the chaos that such a weapon would create. ...

Plague had another advantage for Ishii. Its origins could be concealed.

...

Russians from Hogoin were only one source of human guinea pigs. Most, around 70 per cent, were Chinese soldiers, intellectuals and local worker agitators apprehended by the Kenpeitai and Secret Service throughout Manchuria.

Such human experimental material included those designated as

suspected spy, saboteur, or ideological criminal, perhaps an opium smoker, pro-Soviet and anti-Japanese, "disloyal," of no value for "enlistment," unwilling for "re-education," of no fixed abode, or simply whose release was "undesirable."

...

Unsuspecting and innocent people were also tricked into the clutches of Unit 731. Some were lured by the prospect of employment. Young boys, mothers and children, even pregnant women were trapped.

Prisoners were referred to as "maruta," which is the Japanese word for a log of wood.

Talk about dehumanization!

A maruta was just a number, a piece of experimental material. They were not even regarded as human beings.

...

The prison was a vision of hell. Through the spyhole cut in the steel doors of each cell, the plight of the chained marutas could be seen. Some had rotting limbs, bits of bone protruding through skin blackened by necrosis. Others were sweating in high fever, writhing in agony or moaning in pain. ... An infected person would be put with healthy marutas to see how easily diseases spread.

...

Marutas were "used up" at the rate of two or three per day.

Among the prisoners on whom such inhumane tests were performed were 88,000 American and Filipino PoWs captured during the fall of Bataan and Corregidor. Some of these, together with Australian, British, and New Zealand PoWs (a total of 1,485) were sent to Manchuria. How many White Russians perished at P'ing Fan is not clear. At least the Chinese and the Allies have some record of how many of their people died.

The Soviet Union prosecuted those members of Unit 731 that they captured for war crimes. They were sentenced to lengthy terms but not put to death. Eventually, they were released and repatriated to Japan. Those who evaded capture by the Soviets ended up under the military authority of the United States. In exchange for their experimental data, Douglas MacArthur and, through him, the United States Government, shielded these war criminals from prosecution, essentially giving them a free pass. Many of them went on to win high honours in their quickly-resumed professional lives.

And the U.S. government took the data from Unit 731 and conducted bacteriological warfare against the North Koreans. Uninformed Americans wonder why the North Koreans are so paranoid. In their place, wouldn't you be? Information has only now, 50+ years later, begun to surface about war crimes committed by U.S. troops in Korea. But the truth about bacterial weapons used against the Koreans is not yet common knowledge even in the U.S.

While civilian Japanese paid with their lives and health at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Ishii Shiro and his cohorts lived in comparative wealth and splendour to the end of their days. While his countrymen starved and suffered, Ishii Shiro and the commanders of Unit 731 lived well. Some of these monsters — perhaps all of them, by now — are dead. But their crimes must never die.

Chinese and Japanese protest war crimes of Unit 731

We must never forget that we human beings are capable of doing such things to each other. We invoke war as our excuse to dispel the last shreds of our humanity. It has often been said of humankind that we are "midway between angel and ape." The deeds of Unit 731 put the lie to that claim. No ape could, or would, cause such suffering to its fellow apes, and justify it so disingenuously.

In all honesty, although this book took weeks to read, and more weeks to recover from, this Cat has actually also been occupied with the monumental task of editing several books. That task is now drawing to a close, and this blog will resume its regular assault upon your consciousness.

Thank you for your attention.

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Women's Rights: Jamie Leigh Jones

This woman has guts. She really does. She's taken a horrible experience and turned it into a blazing fight for justice. I look at her sweet little face and think, if I was her father, brother, husband, boyfriend? Some KBR employees would be sitting around wondering what happened to their gonads.

You know who else has guts? Our newest Senator, Al Franken. Watch him kick KBR's lawyer's ass nine ways to Sunday.

Minnesota, you did the right thing by giving us this wonderful guy. He comes to his committees and hearings PREPARED. He reads everything. And he's sharp as a tack.



Go, Senator Al!

Now I see why the Rethuglicans were so terrified of letting him into the Senate. He does not mealymouth around.

So, Minnesota, all y'all gotta do now is get rid of that batshit-crazy Bachmann and we're, like, on, yaknow?

Damn, he rocks. DiBernardo's going to take a week or two to dislodge that pointy boot from his ass. Serves him right too.

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Politics: The Constitution

ICHC

Until recently, we at La Casa de Los Gatos were of the opinion that only the Idiot Son, our Chimperor from 2001 through 2008, had the temerity to refer to the document on which this nation was founded as "a goddamn piece of paper."

But thanks to literacy and the joy of reading, we find that Georgie Porgie was not the first, probably will not be the last, and is almost certainly not the only one among us who has equated this noble document with bumwad.

Which is why we should fund education, and resist the dumbing-down of the nation to which the oligarchs and corporatists among us seem committed.

Here, for your enjoyment, or at least edification, a quote:

"[...] if it is a question of the safety of the country ... the Constitution is just a scrap of paper to me."

*attributed to Asst. Sec. of War James McCloy, as quoted in Lest We Forget: The Japanese and America's Wartime Mistake, Joyce E. Williams and Alice M. Coleman

The issue in question? The forced internment of Japanese (Issei) and Japanese-American (Nisei) civilians in specially built concentration camps, in blatant disregard of Constitutional protections. Since the vast majority of those interned were guilty of nothing more than being of a different race than the majority of Americans at the time, the manifest injustice of their imprisonment required a contempt for the founding document of this country that is still difficult to believe.

Of course, one has to ask oneself exactly what people mean by "the country." Throughout history, a "country" has been variously defined as that geographical location that has been successfully held by one or more strong men (rarely, women), usually related. More recently, countries have been political entities, comprising people of different ethnicities who make common cause for their mutual protection and success. This particular country can be said to comprise those who regard this particular Constitution as a contract between themselves and their fellow citizens. That being the case, treating the Constitution as "a goddamned piece of paper" bears all the logic and clarity of thought of the statement "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."

This type of information — the knowledge that the people who have power over us believe that we have no rights whatsoever — needs to be disseminated far and wide. People need to know that those who climb the ladders of power see the powerless as disposable stepping-stones to that power.

Today, we have a President who believes in listening to his fellow-citizens. This man was democratically elected in free and fair elections by nearly two-thirds of his countrymen. We also have a proportion of certifiable loons talking about bloody and violent revolution to wrest power away from our elected leader. Although they are in the minority they want to violently overcome the will of the majority.

While we agree with Jefferson that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants, we don't appreciate idiots like William Kostric conflating the fairly elected and chosen President of two-thirds of his nation with tyrants like, say, Dim Son. Where was this self-proclaimed "hero" and "patriot" as Bush and his cohorts systemically looted the nation and broke its infrastructure? Cowering under his bed? Peeing his pants for fear of the pigment-endowed and hirsute perpetrators of Terra?

Mr. Kostric, since you're fond of quotations, consider these, if you will:

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
-- Samuel Johnson (Boswell's Life of Johnson)

When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
-- Jonathan Swift

*Note: James McCloy testified in 1981 before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians that he did not make this statement.

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The Police State

Jesus fucking J.H. Christ and his Black brother Harry. Is this what it's come to? Body-slamming frail, elderly grannies with dementia in the interests of "protecting and serving?"

Who the fuck, just who the fuck are the cops "protecting" when they slam this poor old lady to the ground and leave her bleeding? Like being old and disoriented isn't bad enough?



I thought the last time the cops engaged in a little granny-bashing was, truly, the last time I'd hear about this. But these motherfuckers — hey, that lady cop has got to outweigh the victim by a good 100 lb., at least.

Your friendly local Cat has had to disarm knife-wielding persons before. It happens sometimes in the course of an argument that an overly-excited person picks up something that they think will help them, um, forcefully drive their point, as it were, home. If you're younger and stronger than the other person, you can get the weapon away from them pretty easily. You do risk getting cut, of course, and you might lose a little blood. But, you know, if you're, like, arguing with grandma, it's no big deal to step behind the old lady, grab her wrist, and twist it till she drops the knife. Unless she has a black belt in some martial art, she's not gonna be able to fight back.

So why these fucking proto-fascists felt the need to body-slam Grammy is completely fucking beyond me, OK?

Here's the facts of the case, as reported by Raw Story:

• The lady in this disgusting video evidence of police brutality is one Virginia Dodson of Whitehall, Ohio;
  
  
• Ms. Dodson is 84 years old and suffers from Alzheimer's Disease;
  
  
• Her daughter, who is her primary caregiver, was running an errand at the local Mall*Wart, and took Mom with her (probably because there is no alternate caregiver, or one wasn't available right then);
  
  
• Understandably, the daughter didn't want to take her into the store, so left her buckled into her seat in the car;
  
  
• At some point, poor disoriented Ms. Dodson lost track of why exactly she was all alone in a car, strapped into her seat, and panicked. She cut the strap with a steak knife she found in the car and exited the car, knife in hand, calling her daughter's name.
  
  
• Thanks to the police, she now has stitches closing the wound in the back of her head, and possibly a broken hand.

Now, some people are all, incensed, screaming, hey, the cops had to take her down 'cause, you know, she had a knife and she threatened some kid, and like that.

OK, you dumb motherfuckers, you wanna live in a police state, move to fucking Afghanistan or where-the-fuck-ever. And ask yourself how you'd feel if that was your Grandma the cops were bashing around. Or you, your very own precious self, some 40 or 60 years from now when you can no longer remember your name or how to wipe your own fucking ass. And don't forget to meditate on the fact that any kid that can't outrun an 84-year-old frail elderly woman who walks with a cane is gonna get Darwinized sooner or later.

Other people are claiming Ms. Dodson's daughter is responsible for this unholy mess because she "neglected" her mom. You lot, form a line to the right. The trucks will be coming any minute now to schlep you off to the local senior home or nursing home or any other place with a high proportion of physically and/or mentally disabled people. You're sentenced to do caretaker duty for them until you figure out just how difficult it is to look after someone with that particular combination of disabilities.

What does this story teach us, boyz'ngirlz?

• One, somebody is putting something truly sinister in the drinking water in Ohio. Either that or the whole fucking state is in the nth degree of crayzee natural-born fucking fascist loons. Maybe we should send all the other loonies there and build high concrete walls around the state. Eh?
  
  
• Two, Our care of the elderly, especially the elderly with mental disabilities, is fucking appalling. Why is Ms. Dodson's daughter forced to schlep Mom around and lock her in a car while she does the grocery shopping? Why don't we have daycare for the elderly and mentally disabled?
  
  
• Three, The police forces in this country desperately need new, better policy positions. One of the first things I'd like to see is the removal of those glorified cattle prods known as Tasers.
  
  And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that most cops lose their lives when intervening in domestic violence situations.

Is respect for the human rights enshrined in the Constitution too much to ask of our police? Because if it is, we need to scrap the existing police force and recreate it from the ground up.

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Human Rights: Why Reproduction Should Be

a licensed activity

Otty Sanchez and her baby

This is Otty Sanchez, a 33-year-old woman from San Antonio, Texas. Otty is in the news today because she killed her only child, a 3.5-week-old boy named Scott Wesley Sanchez Buchholz. Ms. Sanchez then proceeded to skin, gut, and decapitate the infant, and then, according to one or more news reports, eat parts of its body.

This last fact is disputed by Ms. Sanchez' family. Understandably. While the specter of your sister or daughter killing her kid is bad enough, the idea of said person actually cannibalizing the defenseless sprog has to make the toughest stomach churn.

Also understandably, the tabloid press, or gutter press, or yellow press, whatever you call it, is going hog wild with cries of "Cannibal Mom!" while a large number of Ms. Sanchez' fellow-Texans and fellow-Americans, most likely Republicans from the tone of their comments, are calling for her death, accompanied, preferably, by prolonged suffering.

La Casa de Los Gatos has only this to say to this last pack of hyenas: Shut the fuckety-fucking-fuck UP! You fucking morons. You fucking-fuckety-fucked-up fucking morons. Exclamation points, multiple. Do you seriously think a human being who has been trying to have a baby for something like five fucking years is going to kill and mutilate it just for fun? Do you people have any idea what pregnancy does to a woman's body and mind? No, of course not, or you couldn't make your moronic pronouncements. All you want to do is cannibalize the tragedy, and it is a tragedy, you worthless fucking fucks.

La Casa de Los Gatos is also using this tragedy, but for a different purpose: to point out that procreation is indulged in way too casually by all and sundry, with never a thought to the consequences. To argue for contraception as a basic human right (and, yes, that includes abortion, adoption, birth control, chemical or mechanical, sterilization, and anything else in our population control armory). To call attention to the incredible hypocrisy with which our society yawps about the sacredness of sprog and human life and procreation while ignoring the real needs of children, mothers, mentally ill people, poor people without resources.

This issue is our favourite (if one can grace it with such a description) bugbear.

Otty Sanchez was diagnosed as a schizophrenic approximately a year ago. The father of the baby, Scott Buchholz, is also a schizophrenic. Otty and Scott met at a local college where they were both training for careers as dental or medical techs. It is not clear whether either of them has a job. What is clear is that both of them are seriously mentally ill with an illness that requires them to remain on medication for the rest of their lives, and that, absent regular medication, they are or could be a danger to themselves or others.



So riddle me this, children. What are two seriously mentally ill people doing having a fucking baby? Srsly. We don't know if schizophrenia is hereditary, but the NIMH (National Institutes of Mental Health) has this to say on the topic:

If you have a close relative (parent or sibling) with schizophrenia, you have a 10 percent chance of also developing schizophrenia. In identical twins, the chances are much higher, at 40 to 65 percent.

Theories/Speculation

In July of 2008, a study came out looking at the genetic causes of schizophrenia. So far, it looks as if there are three kinds of genetic material (microdeletions) present in non-schizophrenics and lacking in schizophrenics, and it's thought that this factor can make a person more prone to developing schizophrenia, but may not be the actual cause. These microdeletions do seem to run in families. Other factors thought to combine together with these genes include problems with brain chemistry, injuries to the brain during birth that leave the brain smaller than normal, and traumatic or very stressful events.

NIMH states that one per cent of the planetary population is schizophrenic. That would be some sixty million people who suffer from this mental disease. Most mentally ill people pose no danger to others. However, symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, auditory and visual, and disorders of thought. Schizophrenics might not understand the nature of the thoughts they are having and might not understand cause and effect when in the grip of their personal, let's call them, demons.

This would explain why a woman who wanted and loved her child might pick up a knife and inflict fatal damage on the child and near-fatal damage on herself.

Otty Sanchez was also diagnosed with post-partum psychosis. Post-partum psychosis (PPP) is a rare mental illness that affects one out of 1,000 women who have borne a child. Unlike the more common PPD (post-partum depression), PPP, which results from the same causes as PPD, can cause a new mother to suffer hallucinations, lose contact with reality, and become a danger to herself, her child, and possibly, others.

Ms. Sanchez has been institutionalized in the past for mental illness. And, to the credit of her poor, disordered mind, she tried to get help shortly before she killed her child. Surprisingly, the hospital to which she went released her. Or perhaps it's not so surprising. She went to the emergency room for treatment (let me guess — no health insurance). And, as everyone knows, emergency rooms are not staffed with mental health workers, in addition to being horribly overcrowded, overused, and understaffed. So they sent her home to her baby. FTA:

Had deputies been called to the home, they might have been able to intervene, said Deputy Chief Dale Bennett of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

"Most of our officers have been trained in mental health awareness, so they had a strong probability of recognizing what was going on," Bennett said.

Many of the people involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation initially are arrested by law enforcement officers investigating domestic disturbances, said Kevin McManus, a public defender who works with Bexar County clerk's Mental Health Office.

State law doesn't permit health care providers or authorities to detain a mentally ill patient against his their will unless that person is considered an immediate threat to himself or others.

"A lot of times, the officer is the best person to tell if someone appears to be a threat," McManus said.

Ironic, innit? Would you call the cops on your sister/cousin/kid? Otty Sanchez' family does not appear to be wealthy. In addition, they're Latina, and if a renowned scholar like Dr. Gates gets hassled by the cops in an upscale University town, just imagine the relationships between poor Latinos and the cops in Texas.

I'm guessing the family figured if they called the cops, Otty would be manhandled, thrown in jail, and further traumatized, not to mention the issue of what it would do to her already fragile mental health. So they didn't call the cops. They figured, she had a therapist appointment on Monday, they'd tell the shrink she was "hearing voices," and try to figure out how to handle the whole thing then. Except right before that, she killed the baby.

I know it sounds harsh to say that people like Otty Sanchez and Scott Buchholz have no business having a baby. And it sounds like eugenics to ask for population control measures that prevent people who have inheritable diseases that will permanently and negatively affect a child's health or life from having a child. But how do you propose to protect children from danger otherwise? Implementing such a scheme would undoubtedly raise cries of racism, discrimination, class warfare, undemocratic actions not consistent with human rights and civil liberties, et cetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

But I am so fucking heartily sick of seeing the most defenseless of victims fall prey to the needs and wishes of others. How could this tragedy — like Andrea Yates' tragedy, and countless others — have been prevented? Anybody have an idea? All I can come up with is reversible sterilization the minute people's gonads become active, followed by a reversal only when an individual has shown that they are ready, willing, and ABLE to provide the kind of care a helpless sprog needs. Otherwise, what we're saying to ourselves and each other is that the wishes of individuals to procreate outweigh the basic right to safety of the result of the procreation. If we're not willing to do this, then we should just come out and bag the whole "human life is sacred" crap and start using fetii or even children as food material. Yaknow, Soylent Green, and all that.

For the record, I think abortion is far more humane than killing a child after it's born.

And this is how much the issue of PPD is finally affecting the collective consciousness of this country: none other than Rupert Murdoch catbox litter, aka Faux Noise, is actually calling for mandatory pre- and post-partum screening for new mothers. Good idea, Fox, but won't we need to finance this, as in, have some kind of single-payer health plan in order for this to happen? Otherwise, what's the solution? Screen them and turn them loose? So they can kill their kids?

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Happy Bastille Day!

Prise de la Bastille, Jean Pierre Houel

Bastille Day is a national holiday in La Belle France! A tribute to the right of the people to protect their interests against those powers that choose to rule them in the most arbitrary fashion for the benefit, not of the people, but of said powers.

Here is more information on Bastille Day.

A little over one month after Bastille Day, the Declaration of The Rights of Man and of The Citizen was adopted by the National Constituent Assembly of the French Revolution. This declaration forms the basis of international human rights laws which govern us all (hopefully) till today. Sadly, as our previous post shows, they have not come into that universal acceptance that humanity really must achieve before Vogons show up and blow us up for being such a dreadful species — no, wait, the Vogons are much worse. OK, let's assume that the Universe contains SOME form of intelligent life. Now, imagine them casting a jaundiced, at best, eyeball upon our planet. Whad'ya think? Will they let us live?

My money's on "No." Let's keep working on changing their minds, though!

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World: No Regrets?

No, it's not the Billie Holliday song. It's what's happening in the trials of the Khmer Rouge criminals right now.

Prisoner at Tuol Sleng, Pol Pot's notorious S-21 prison

No, my knowledge of Kampuchean history is not great. I know something about the early history of the Khmer and other peoples of that part of Southeast Asia, the Funanese empire, the Dong Son bronzes, but almost nothing about their modern history, except that my parents greatly respected and admired Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

I am about to begin my historical explorations of that deeply wretched nation.

However, today's report from Reuters does not bode well for my virtual travels thereto. According to Reuters, one Mam Nay, aka Chan, who served for a time as an interrogator under Pol Pot's head jailor, Duch (real name Kaing Guek Eav) testified in court today that he has no regrets for

what happened at the Tuol Sleng prison, where more than 14,000 men, women and children were killed, [...].

Tuol Sleng, also known as S-21, is the infamous prison referred to in "The Killing Fields."

No regrets for this, Mr. Chan? Or Mam Nay, if you prefer?

Tortured Prisoner, one of 6,000 photographs left behind when Khmer Rouge jailors evicted Tuol Sleng prison in advance of invading VietNamese troops

Mam Nay, who is appearing as a witness for the prosecution in the joint Kampuchean-UN war crimes trials, has denied any part in torture or killings of prisoners and blamed the United States and Vietnam for undermining his country.

"My only regret was our country was invaded," he told the joint Cambodian-U.N. tribunal. "Frankly speaking, the Americans invaded us then Vietnam invaded us. That is my regret."

[...]

"I did not use torture in my interrogation. I believed I would not get a true confession."

Asked about the deaths of innocent people, Nay, 76, said: "None of them was innocent -- those people committed offences, either minor or serious.

"This was the reason for their arrest. How serious or how minor, I don't know."

Note: This guy was a schoolteacher. Maybe he was a brainwashed cadre turned schoolteacher. But how do you become a schoolteacher if you cannot empathize with frightened children? And some of the 14-20,000 imprisoned at Tuol Sleng were children. Ony six people survived that prison. The remaining 13,994 — or 19,994, no one really knows — died as a result of torture.

There is no denying that the US bombing of Kampuchea and various associated military actions led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge. But who thought they would be so inhumane as to kill between 1 and 3 million of their own people? Between the U.S. bombing and the NVA attempts to escape U.S. military actions by slipping over the border into Kampuchean territory, evicting Kampucheans, and training members of the Khmer Rouge, Kampuchea's attempts at neutrality and Sihanouk's heroic efforts in that direction were virtually worthless. Here is a brief background on these aspects of Kampuchean history.

Mam Nay, or Mr. Chan, or whatever you call yourself, should a "minor" offense warrant waterboarding? Or, as Americans and other Westerners used to refer to it, "Chinese" or "Japanese" water torture?

Picture taken by Jonah Blank in 2005 at the Tuol Sleng Museum. Published on the Web by David Corn.*

Oh, well. I guess now that it's come to light that we waterboarded mentally ill or innocent or possibly innocent people ourselves, repeatedly, I guess we're in no position to quibble about anyone else's crimes.

Ain't torture egalitarian?

*See here for copyright/licensing information on this picture.

Incidentally, the still-adored ex-partner made a trip to those parts some years ago, and opined that "the whole place seemed haunted. It was like going to a ghost town. Even the people's faces look haunted." The ex is a tough businessperson who has had plenty of occasion to mock and deride my own claims of sensitivity and queasiness and unexplained oojie-woojies, so to hear those words from such a person, well. Virtual trips to Kampuchea is all I'm up to for now.

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World: Iran

For our brothers and sisters in Iran, with love and support!



Enjoy it, if you can, laugh your asses off and remember, we in other countries are watching and hoping and praying for you. It is your fight, and your revolution. Let us all hope that other countries keep their cool as President Barack Obama is keeping his cool. Let us all hope that no one interferes in your internal politics. But remember that whatever we can do to help, there are many of us who will.

Twitter hashtag #IranElection

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World: Iran

Yes, we're unbelievably upset over what's going on in Iran. We know you all know. If you don't, you really ought to. You can start by checking out HuffPo's virtual 24/7 liveblogging, or Twitter, if you prefer.

Essentially, the Telegraph is reporting that Mir Hossain Mossavi, the "reformist" Iranian candidate, won the largest number of votes (19 million) in the recent elections, with everybody's favourite nutter and the puppet of the Mullahs, Ahmedi Nejad coming in third (5.x million). Other candidates who stood in the elections: Mohsen Rezaei and Mehdi Karroubi. Ahmedi took it upon himself to announce that he had won 63 per cent of the votes, the little liar, and proclaimed himself the winner.

If you have a strong stomach, you can view pictures of what's happening in Teheran here. Apparently, protests are occurring in other cities also. Approximately 170 people have been arrested and detained in Teheran. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have poured out into the streets to protest the fraudulent elections, and, as we say in certain parts of the world, much hangama has ensued. (You can get out your Hobson-Jobson for this one. I'm pretty sure it's in there.)

In the event, the Ayatollah Ali Khameini, the real power behind the throne, has ordered an investigation into Mousavi's claims of fraud, according to XinHua and the Belfast Telegraph.



How effective that will be, we have no idea. The neocons in the U.S. are, of course, slavering at the idea of starting a war with Iran. I bet you thought you'd seen the last of those purulent ambulatory slimebags with the departure of Bush the war criminal, eh? Not so fucking lucky. Think again. These bastards are clinging to power with every seta, the fucking cockroaches. They're starting the baying and howling on the right. Thank TPTB, President Obama is keeping a cool head over the whole issue. I don't think our Iranian brothers and sisters have forgotten that the U.S. deposed the lawfully elected Mossadegh and put the Pahlavi on the nation's throne. America SHOULD move carefully, very carefully, as any attempt to side with Mousavi's followers will only result in Iranians feeling threatened and paranoid about foreign meddling in their elections and cause them to back away from Mousavi and embrace Ahmedi Nejad.

The BBC claims that the Iranian government is doing everything it can to prevent news entering or leaving the country. Twitter has now become the medium of choice, if you're interested in what's going on. #iranelection, for those who care. Mousavi is warning his supporters not to show up at rallies any more, as the police are now using live ammunition against protesters. To show your support for our Iranian brothers and sisters, wear green, if you want. Don't, however, encourage your lawmakers or your idiot brother-in-law to do anything illegal or blatant. The Telegraph claims that Mousavi won, but won't publicize their source, and until we know more, we'd be fools to react.

Just because any creature with a working brain wishes Ahmedi Nejad would fall off the earth is no proof that his people did not elect him. I mean, I hate to rub salt in an old wound, but this country DID elect George Dumbya Bush — twice. So. Please tell everyone you know to calm down about this issue. We don't need to make the position of Mousavi's supporters worse by trying to meddle in a hamhanded way, or making stupid statements. Most important of all, we do not need to empower those fucking neocons who aren't happy unless somebody else's kids are being killed somewhere.

Iranian brothers and sisters, the people of the free nations of the world support your struggle towards democracy! Revolutionary Guard of Iran, please do not shoot your own people, your students and teachers, the brightest and best of your nation! We all hope that you resolve this issue in a way that causes the least harm.

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World: WTF is going on in Peru?

Photograph from Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua

Via The Huffington Post, AP is reporting that native tribes are protesting exploitation of the Amazon and the government has retaliated by widespread armed attacks, killing many unarmed native people. Now, the situation is escalating as tribespeople retaliate by capturing and killing soldiers.

NASDAQ is reporting that Carmen Vildoso, Peru's Minister of Women's Affairs and Social Development, has submitted her resignation to President Alan Garcia, although no reason was given.

Opposition member Keiko Fujimori has asked for the resignation of Prime Minister Yehude Simon. Simon leads Garcia's Cabinet. From the article:

Native Indians blocked a main highway in the province of Amazonas for close to two months, while they pressed the government to roll back legislative decrees that regulate resource development.

Those decrees were brought in by the administration of President Alan Garcia as part of enabling legislation required in the free trade agreement with the United States.

Once again, FTAs appear to be at the root of the problem, dispossessing native people, stealing their resources for exploitation for the benefit of larger, more powerful members of the Free Trade coalitions. It appears that Free Trade is free only for the rich. It certainly isn't helping the poor. Perhaps they mean "free of those annoying poor people who don't want to lose their homes and lands and their beautiful environment."

Is the U.S. government once again functioning as the military arm of big corporations that want the resources of poor people who happen to be not-American?

According to this article, Garcia used to be a "leftist," although the Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, apparently did not consider him left enough. Now he's a rightist par excellence — a champion of the Free Market (free, once again, of those pestilential poor people who are unable to purchase the arms and wherewithal to defend themselves against the greed of the multinationals). Whatever he is, or was, there's no denying the guy is a total racist. He speaks contemptuously of the "savagery" and "barbarity" of the indigenous tribespeople while conveniently ignoring the savagery and barbarity of his troops which are believed to have killed tens, and possibly, hundreds, of the indigenous tribespeople and hidden the bodies.

Surprisingly, the Roman Catholic bishops of the nation are siding with the indigenous people on this issue.

Auntie Beeb is also reporting that hundreds of native people are missing.

Before you blame this on President Obama, please note that the Guardian is claiming that the Peru Free Trade Agreement was signed some three years ago, which would make it Bush's responsibility.

Alberto Pizango, courtesy of AFP

Alberto Pizango, an indigenous leader, is seeking asylum in Nicaragua. Peruvian police have already shot and killed one other indigenous leader, at least. Reuters is reporting that Nicaragua has granted asylum to Pizango and is now seeking Garcia's cooperation in giving Pizango safe passage to Nicaragua.

Feel free to write your local fishwrap a letter on the issue. Also, your Congresscritters. I'll post more on this later — must take my poison pills now (I'm cutting back, which means I'm dealing with shivers and sweats and pain and various other disturbances of teh bod; apparently, these highly addictive pain medications can't just be stopped cold turkey).

If you want to do more than just write letters to those worthless shills in congress and the local birdcage liner, consider starting a protest march in solidarity with the native people of Peru in front of the nearest Embassy. Blogger Ana at Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua has a boatload of email addresses for the UN and Peruvian leaders, in case you want to give those worthless fucks a piece of your mind as well. This kind of whatthefuckery deserves a response, goddammit.

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Politics: Your Happy News For Teh Day

According to the New Yorker, in a recent article titled "The Bush Six," by Jane Mayer, war crimes trials for some of the criminals in the previous administration might be available sooner than we think. The lucky ducks who could qualify for an intimate view of the Hague and matching cool orange-stripey gear include our old friends Dough Feith (no typo, aka "the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth," General Tommy Franks, see Woodward, Plan of Attack); John Yoo, who coined the term "enhanced interrogation techniques" as a substitute for what honest people call "torture"; David Addington, Snarl Cheney's secretive legal counsel and right-claw shadow; and Alberto Gonezales, the second fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth, aka, "I Don't Recall." Undoubtedly, the two others are Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.

What you will find heartening about this report is reproduced here for your enjoyment:

[...] Gonzalo Boye, the Chilean-born Spanish lawyer [...] last week filed the criminal complaint against the Bush officials, on behalf of five former prisoners who were, they allege, tortured in the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay.

It is hard to predict what will happen next, but, if arrest warrants are issued, the Obama Administration may be forced either to extradite the former officials or to start its own investigation. Sands, who admires Obama, said, “I regret that I have added to his in-box when he has so much else to sort out. But I hope he does the right thing. There’s not much dispute anymore: torture happened, and the law is clear—torture must be punished.”

Meanwhile, Sands reiterated a warning that he made in his book. “If I were they,” he said, referring to the former officials in question, “I would think carefully before setting foot outside the United States. They are now, and forever in the future, at risk of arrest. Until this is sorted out, they are in their own legal black hole.”

Admittedly, we don't know if warrants will be issued, or if these lowlife thugs will be arrested and tried and forced to serve their time. But think of it this way. From the day Philippe Sands' expose was first published to the day they die, these swine will, every single day of their lives, wake up wondering if today is the day they get schlepped before the court.

If you've ever been involved in a court case, even when you're the innocent party or the plaintiff, you know how stressful it is. Every single day until the day they're in the pokey, if ever, these schmucks will be looking behind them, waiting for the hand on the shoulder. Every piece of mail, every phone call, every knock on the door, every invitation that requires them to travel outside the continental United States will be a source of fear and trepidation and unease. May their ulcers eat them alive.

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