Archive for August 6th, 2008

Please remember on this night at nine p.m. (2100) to light a candle for Tibet….to protest the silencing of Tibet, to protest the Chinese theft of Tibetan watersheds, to show that buying an Olympic Games is not proof that Communist China is the be all and end all.

And color me disgusted that my first car, a Buick Invicta, last production year 1963 is now being made again.  And it has its debut at the Chinese car show.  Once I would have leapt at the opportunity to own one again.  Yeah…if the threatened/promised rain doesn’t fall tomorrow night…ONE THOUSAND candles will burn on the Walk.

Well, no surprise, Osama bin Laden’s unfortunate chauffeur has been convicted for “supporting terrorism.” And even though the judge called him a “minor player” and refused to allow testimony about digging bodies out from beneath the fallen World Trade Towers, this man was sentenced to life in prison.  !!Edit:

Apparently the first word out of life in prison was incorrect.  I got the DOD letter on his actual sentencing today, August 7th—thus I quote:

“A military panel has sentenced Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen to 66 months of confinement for providing material support to terrorism by a military commission under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The sentence includes a 61 month and eight day credit ordered by the military judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred. Hamdan will serve his sentence to confinement separate from the other detainees at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

            Hamdan’s conviction and sentencing at trial is one step in the military commission process. Now that the trial is complete his case will receive an automatic review by the convening authority, who will evaluate the legal sufficiency of the findings and appropriateness of the sentence. Hamdan will still be represented by counsel and have the opportunity to submit matters for consideration on his behalf. Then his case will receive an automatic review by the Court of Military Commission Review. Thereafter, he could appeal to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court.”

I will note, that does not necessarily say he will be released when his 5+ years are done.  Now…back to my original rant:

For driving. For driving the car of a man America’s leaders are pissed off at….one they apparently cannot catch. If we get pissed off at Russia and Putin’s old driver visits Disney Land, are we going to scoop him up and convict him, too? Or, perhaps, since he would be a white man, we might just let it go? I think America figures this poor little bastard is just a “raghead” so it doesn’t matter.

I really do hope that American Moslems, whether of Middle Eastern descent or not, notice this and take pre-cautionary measures in their lives. I fear for an America who does this sort of thing. I’ve been living with this fear for a good while, and this does not comfort me that they didn’t convict him of worse charges. It frightens and angers me that they convicted him at all.

What else is “supporting terrorism” I wonder; if driving some guy around is good enough for life in jail? Writing anti-Bush blogs—is that supporting terrorism?

Bitching about the financial costs of war while American infrastructure crumbles—is that supporting terrorism?

Saying that Dick Cheney is a thug with no respect for the law—is that supporting terrorism?

Saying the Bush White House is assisting corporate looting of the American treasury—is that supporting terrorism?

Bitching about the loss of American lives for oil company profits—-is that supporting terrorism? Complaining about the “patriots” at KBR, who banned cellphones so their female employees can’t report rape—is that supporting terrorism?

Bitching that the Army doesn’t really investigate or prosecute rapists in their ranks—is that supporting terrorism?

Griping about telecoms who tell the government anything they want to know about my phone and computer lines—is that supporting terrorism?

Asking why we need to drill for oil in Alaska when oil companies already have untouched oil leases elsewhere—is that supporting terrorism?

Asking why our gas prices keep rising while oil companies make ever more huge record profits—is that supporting terrorism?

Asking why the electronic voting machines are made by companies near and dear to the Bush family and GOP machine—is that supporting terrorism?

Asking why the EPA has been gutted, OSHA rules ignored, and scientists silenced about the environment while big corporations profit—is that supporting terrorism?

Gee…..we will need a whole new Underground Railroad if this shit continues. No matter what color skin one has, or what religion one follows or does not…when dissent is the enemy and the laws are ignored, we are all at risk.

You will note in the next months that I will frequently illustrate my rants, bitches, and moans with mini-posters reworked from old WWII  posters.  These came from a book entitled “YOU Back the Attack!  We’ll Bomb Who We Want! *Remixed War Propaganda by Micah Ian Wright”

While the front cover has the usual copyright “do not reproduce w/o permission” warning, inside the book, Mr. Wright (a former Ranger) ORDERED his readers to rip up the book, copy into bigger sizes and otherwise disseminate the posters any and every where applicable.  I am pretty sure an anti-war blog would be applicable.

Below is the paragraph by Mr. Wright!

Just so you all will know, I am not treading copyright toes, merely Republithug ones!

There was that terrible old saying “Loose Lips Sink Ships” on posters in WWII.  And likely as not, it could be true too often.  I think there is some form of this operative in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, too.  But it seems to run like this “Politicians shooting their mouths off makes our guys DIE!”

See, I keep track of the deaths.  I get daily (alas) email from the DOD with names of folks whose families are in mourning.  And every time some damned  Administration wank or lapdog general goes on television and says somehing like “The Surge is working!” the death count takes a sudden leap.  In the next week a LOT more guys die than the week before the patriotic asshat HAD to talk about American success in the “war on terror.”

So, please, if any of you asshats ARE patriotic, how about just shutting the fuck up to save some lives?