रान्त

So wait, let me see....



You say technology has helped bridge the gap between you and me. That this tangled system has helped progress society. When in all actuality the whole community is made up of 0's who won't agree with anything and 1's who would kill to be me. It has built a den for the wicked knowledge that was once lost to our eyes and ears. It, along with its sources, do nothing but ration out fears. Every good and every evil, every cheer and every jeer. The treasures humanity once held dear are all within reach and uncomfortably near.



I don't need to explore your minds to find out what your like. I can round up every love and all your hatred in one night. There is no reason to fear the contact of a stranger when you hide behind that screen there is no immediate emotional danger. The pixelated romanticized connections we make are in no ways equal to the lives it takes.



The electrical impulse of love has been outsourced and refurbished into a mathematical equation and our heads keep turning. Turning to the next flashing light that promises to make things easy and right. Promises to keep you numb from sympathy and afraid to fight. Promises to keep you safe and sound every night. Just sit and watch and listen to the preaching. The same old fascist gospel that prohibits any alternative teachings. The anger beseeches me.



Now I sit wondering about the revolution. Sorting out the best way to fix the equation for their final solution. But I fear to think to loud, they may drown out the sound shooting guns into the crowds. Crowds of people that may not look like me, talk like me, or even want to walk with me. But we are still one crowd and one entity. Each striving for the answers to the essence that makes me me.



This system continues to push its agenda to shape our realities. To chop the branches from the trees to build churches and prisons. Expanding, they're not everlasting and if they are I'm making funeral plans for my Mother Earth.

Fascism and America 2006

Throughout history there has been corruption here and there within government and other types of hierarchical forms of leadership. Believe it or not even the gold children of the American government have been known to be corrupt once in a while. There have been drastic changes to our laws which have led to limitations of our rights and liberties given to us by our constitution. But with the recent occurrences at the White House, Congress, and over seas, we are faced with either conforming to fascism or making a change, with force if necessary.

The first reason that we are faced with the choice of fascism or revolution is the exuberant nationalism our country has been partaking in recently. This idea that our territorial aggressiveness is mere destiny and was not obtained but thrust upon us by history is utter lunacy. Even Americas president can be quoted saying at a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, “God told me to strike at Al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them”1. To think and believe that any mission given to us is by way of divine intervention and that a deity would make it our fate and our duty to wipe out a group of people is absurd and pretty disturbing.

The second warning sign is the rallying unification of violence and hatred towards an already chosen enemy. Just like the Nazi’s already had an enemy picked out to destroy, anyone not of “pure Aryan descent” but mainly the Jewish people, American’s have chosen those who are opposed to the “pure democratic way of life”. Such acts have been flawed and misguided, and this blind hatred has led to many false arrests and unnecessary deaths. On act caused 500 men in the Los Angeles area to be detained after complying with a section of the PATRIOT act.2 The PATRIOT act was put into place by Congress shortly after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Another arrest that was later withdrawn regarding the new “enemies” the USA has created happened in Florida in 2002. After three men were detained for 17 hours, the authorities said they messed up and finally released them. The cause of the arrest was that the men were overheard talking in a diner then later were seen speeding through toll booths without paying. Later on when the men were released the police stated that after some investigation the conversation in the diner was not about terrorism, and after watching CCTV footage they did in fact stop and pay the toll at the booths.3 If the police are so concerned with people talking about terrorist acts in public places and planning the destruction of the world, then they should sit in one of those five star restaurants and listen to some Exxon Mobil CEO’s or Weyerhaeuser big shots. Maybe catch some real terrorists in action.

After September 11^th 2001, President George W. Bush sent a bill into congress named the “PATRIOT Act”. This act was supposed to create a stronger security force regarding homeland security, but only created the third and fourth reason for this rising fascism in America. It has created a quickening disappearance of our rights, and an obvious obsession with secrecy and national security. According to many descriptions of the PATRIOT act it is provided to created only modest, incremental changes in the law. The recent attacks on the USA and the “busy schedules” of congress sent the bill flying through with stamps of approval. It wasn’t until 2003, two years after the passing of the bill, was something dubbed unconstitutional within the new act. “In a ruling handed down late Friday and made available Monday, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins said the ban on providing “expert advice or assistance” is impermissibly vague, and in violation of the first and fifth amendments.”4 The ban was ruled unconstitutional and was changed. David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who argued the case on behalf of the Humanitarian Law Project, called this “a victory for everyone who believes the war on terrorism ought to be fought with consistent and constitutional principles.” Only a year after the first court appearance of the PATRIOT act, it was brought back to discuss what has now become the most controversial section of the whole document. The infamous numbers 215 were first brought up in court regarding an anonymous company who the government was trying to silence for one reason or another.5

Section 215 of the PATRIOT act, like the other sections, was created in order to tighten security concerning terrorism on the home front and to make it easier to crack down on terrorist activities. The specific section has become the target of a lot of scrutiny because of its vague descriptions of the power given to the FBI. Normally the government isn’t allowed to gain information or perform a search without probably cause and a warrant, but this isn’t true under section 215. This section can be used to violate more then one of our rights given to us by the Constitution. The fourth amendment can be violated because the FBI does not need a warrant to conduct searches. The first amendment is violated because the searches can be conducted regarding what a person has said or written. All of this does not need to be shared with anyone, meaning the FBI can search anyone they want, at anytime, for any reason they desire.6

The American government has always been a “Military First” government and has, for the most part, put much of its funds into the growth and expected progress of the military. But until you compare our spending with the spending of other nations or of other things our funds are spent on, you don’t think it is a problem. In a comparison of the top 15 countries in the world ranked by military spending in 1999, America stands on top with 281 billion dollars. Second place china is 192 billion dollars behind, and potential targets Iran and Syria are 274 billion dollars behind. Our extreme glorification of military is scary and is a trend that always burns a country to the ground.

The “War on Terror” is said to keep our homeland safe from future terrorist attacks, and has been said to be successful. But other reasons can obviously be traced to the abundance of oil in the Middle-East. A strong driving force of the continuation of this war and this targeted hatred of the Middle-East and Muslims are the corporations looking to make a quick buck from the oil found in the area. These corporations are corrupt and do not follow any law put before them, yet are shielded by our government.

The mass media is also controlled by our government. You can turn on a television and flip through the channels and are able to stop on something that will be glorifying the government's decisions of physical and mental warfare. But is you try to search for something that is challenging the government's views and your choices are much more limited. These shows are either ignored because they do not seem like a threat, or are dealt with if they are getting any sort of response out of the people.

The last characteristic shown by this country that can lead to a fascist ending is the suspicious elections. After the most recent Senatorial election, it has become a little more then suspicious. “We see evidence of pervasive fraud, but apparently calibrated to political conditions existing before recent developments shifted the political landscape,” said Attorney Jonathon Simon, co-founder of the Election Defense Alliance, “so 'the fix' turned out not to b sufficient for the actual circumstances. When you set out to rig an election, you want to do just enough to win. The greater the shift from expectations, (from exit polling, pre-election polling, demographics) the greater risk of exposure – provoking investigation. What was plenty to win on October 1^st fell short on November 7^th.” (Kall) The reason the election is thought to be “hacked” is because of the major under count of Democratic votes and major exaggeration of Republican votes. The idea of rigging an election, especially one done on electronic devices, had to be long planned out before hand, most likely weeks before the election. “The numbers tell us there absolutely was hacking going on, just not enough to overcome the size of the actual turnout. The tide turned so much in the last few weeks before the election. It looks for all the world that they'd already figured out the percentage they needed to rig, when the programming of the vote rigging software was distributed weeks before the election, it wasn't enough,” Castleman commented, also a member of the EDA (Kall).

The obvious growing trends of a facist government need to be exposed to the public and fought against before we are totally sheathed within their control. We need to stand up against the government and say something before we are chained to the floor and silenced for good. It is not only us, citizens of this country, that are in danger of this government but also other citizens of the worl. If we believe we should trade our liberties for the security of our government, then we have traded in and do not deserve any of the rights we as humans were born with.

Citations

ACLU. 24 Oct. 2002. American Civil Liberties Union. 25 Nov. 2006 <http://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/15423res20021024.html>

BBC News. “Mass LA Muslim arrests condemned” BBC News World Edition 20 Dec. 2002. 25 Nov. 2006 <Http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/americas/2595391.stm>

“Florida Muslim arrests were mistake” BBC News World Edition 21 Sept. 2002 Nov. 2006 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2272248.stm>

Eggen, Dan. “Key Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional” Washington Post.com 30 Sept. 2004. 24 Nov. 2006 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59626-2004Sep29.html>

Fromm, Stephen. “US Military Spending” Truth and Politics 5 Nov. 2004. 25 Nov. 2006 <http://www.truthandpolitics.org/military-US-world.php>

Kall, Rob. “Clear Evidence 2006 Congressional Elections Hacked” OpEd News 17 Nov. 2006. 25 Nov. 2006 <http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_rob_kall_061117_clear_evidence_2006_.htm>

Regular, Arnold. “'Road map is a life saver for us.' PM Abbas tells Hamas.” Haaretz.com 20 Oct. 2005. 25 Nov. 2006

<http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=310788&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y>

Yes, We Can

Nothing to say at the moment, but I have a pretty inspirational video for you to watch. It comes from the "Yes, We Can" speech by Barack Obama. Let me tell you, it is one of the most amazing and inspirational videos(and speeches) of our generation. This man is my candidate for president and hopefully he wins it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

Enjoy. I feel a rant coming soon so hold tight.

Sh!t adds up at the bottom...

Hear ye, Hear ye!

All of you join together to listen to a tale of epic proportions.

Two men, two courageous(dim witted) gentlemen(tyrants) took the wheel of a country and spun it wildly.

How did they get to the wheel? They blew off fireworks, told you your mother needed you, and threw sand into your eyes.

They spoke out with lies,
They sit and still deny,
the tears that fall from a torn mothers eyes.

Your brother,
Your father,
They we're unbiased
with the sacrificed
Your mother,
Your sister,
they speak as the pious
between the gears they grind us.





935.
People want to send e-mails to get these men impeached.
You honestly believe...that e-mails will change the minds of people in office? C'mon now.

These are the people that had the chance to stop Bush and Cheney, but decided to vote for them in fear of being looked down upon.

Bush and Cheney and the republican party have taken advantage of the fact that everything in this world is ran by fear and money. They took the money and distributed it through fear. They both deserve impeachment, if not execution for each life lost because of their lies.

Some have said that these men are brilliant for what they have done. The things they have gotten away with.
Brilliant? You believe these mens strategies and lies are BRILLIANT?
This isn't a damned Tom Clancy novel. The end isn't already written (well for some it is). This is REAL life. These strategies cannot be glorified in any way. The lies led thousands of men women and children to their deaths.

Impeachment, even if it is so late in the term, is exactly the message the American people need to make at this time. Not only for themselves, but for the candidates in the race. We need to show them this is OUR country. That money and deceit can not and will not run our country ever again.


Shit adds up at the bottom.

Clinton Called Out

I was wondering when this was finally going to happen on a larger scale then peoples personal blogs. Dennis Kucinich was interviewed by Truthdig's Associate Editor Kasia Anderson regarding how Kucinich felt toward Clinton's topsy turvy nuclear stance.
Kucinich goes on to mention the responsibility you must bear with making a statement like this:

"Is she unaware of the fragility of conditions on the Asian subcontinent with respect to nuclear parity and first-strike concerns? Does she really mean what she says, and is she ready to take responsibility for potentially catalyzing a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan? Has she really thought this through? This really raises questions about whether she has the thoughtfulness to be able to lead the nation. Given her willingness to attack Iraq without any evidence whatsoever, without having read any of the documents, without having done any of the research—is she that susceptible that she’s willing to reach for the nuclear football?"(Truthdig)

So, the question then boils down to "Does she really know what the hell she just said?" There is a large burden that is now on her back and the backs of the democratic party now that she said something like this. She is the leader of the democratic polls and if chosen would be the voice of the democrats for the next election. This could just be a last ditch effort to seem tough like her republican counterparts. If she wanted to act tough she should have just made some crazy comment like we should DOUBLE the size of Guantanamo Bay, you know something original... Oh wait, those darn Republicans take all the good ideas.

This move on her part to say something this drastic, or this stupid, just seems like it is going to start digging the same hole democrats were in from last election. She is, as one of the front runners and just a member in general, speaking for the democratic party and as far as I know democrats don't like it when someone speaks as a republican. Saying that "All options are still on the table" is to take that donkey you rode in on and walk it right over a cliff.
Kucinich made a statement in his interview regarding the weight and effect a statement like hers could have:

"There’s a doctrine of first use which really is a violation of international law. The first-use doctrine is the prelude to Armageddon. We live in a time where the entire world understands the imperative of getting rid of nuclear weapons, and Sen. Clinton’s lack of awareness of the danger of that kind of rhetoric legitimates the first-strike doctrine among all nations. And so, in some ways, her comments necessitate a deep discussion within the Democratic Party about what we stand for."(Truthdig)

The full interview can be found on the link at the end of the quotes if you want to read it. It is a good interview and I am glad somebody is calling her out on this.

Is this really what we want as president? Because to me she seems very unfit to have that type of power. I believe the same thing regarding the republicans. The fact that nukes can still be an option after all these years is complete lunacy.

The nuke option to me seems like a grotesque response to the attacks toward us. It seems like we are taking a beating verbally and physically from the bullies at school and instead of beating them and teaching them a lesson(which I understand will not work is Islamic Extremists) we instead make some bombs and blow up the school.

Nukes kill EVERYTHING.

We are not the country that should be boasting that sort of tactic. We should not be sitting here saying that "If we can't finish a war the old fashioned way, through mild destruction and corruption... Then we will just win it through TOTAL destruction and corruption."

Nuclear weapons are absurd.

The destruction they cause is absurd.

Electing a leader that is dumb enough to stoop so low as to use a nuclear weapon... seems pretty American to me considering our past. So congrats Hillary, because your statement might have won you the Oval office.



But seriously... Citizens don't let leaders use Nukes. Especially leaders who like to change their minds whether or not they want to use them.

The Dirty Dozen

Hey there Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ambassador Wanna-Be-Green!
Have you been considering jumping on the "clean the earth" bandwagon but have on idea how to start? Well, there is a list that has been compiled to help you ensure a quick and cheap switch from the dirty lifestyle of western civilization into a more sane and clean way of life. Don't worry these option's are low in cost and are not complicated at all.
Some of the changes include:

• Styrofoam - Forget it
  
• Plastic Food Containers with Bisphenol-A
• Tropical Hardwoods
• Aluminum in Cosmetics
• Incandescent Lightbulbs - Come on people even Wal-Mart is doing it
• Petroleum based fabric sheets and laundry detergent
• Overpackaged Goods
• Paper Towels and Napkins
• Plastic Utensils
• Disposable Batteries
• Commercial Insecticides
• Household Cleaners

You can read more in depth about each of the dirty dozen over at Lighter Footstep.
Get green!

Get your lighters ready!

Usually I can think of something witty to say about a news article... Something that can lighten the mood, even with how dark it seems to get now-a-days. But this article is too serious, it is too scary for the adults and youth of this country.

"Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday."(NYTIMES)

A draft... A freaking draft.

Ok. Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, let me get this straight.
You are saying, and I quote:

"I think it makes sense to certainly consider it,"(NYTIMES)

Yes, It makes perfectly good sense. Let's start a draft, since it was so popular to begin with, to make sure we make some progress in this war. Let's start our youth off young hating the government. Let's start this new generation off on a great note by taking their brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers away from them forcefully(Like you know any other way) and tell them it's for the "greater good". You complain about the lack of support for YOUR war now? If you are serious that this "makes sense to certainly consider it" then you are in for it. Shine up your riot gear.

"And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another"(NYTIMES)

And there is the fascist tactic of "one way or the other". The old we will continue OUR agenda if it means destroying your families. We are your government, we love our people... but we love our money and our power much...MUCH more.
I don't know how anyone can sit there and not cringe at that statement. The evil just radiates off of it. "Meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another."
Which is our government saying "Well if this normal war thing doesn't work out, then we'll ship off anyone of age(that of course isn't rich, and isn't related to anyone in power) and health to fix the problem. If that doesn't fix it, then we may have to take another drastic approach... another option that's on the table.
I know, I know. The link talks about Iran, but that isn't the point of why I brought it up. I brought it up because not only did our President mention this option being a viable "solution" to the war,(please correct me if I'm wrong) but I can't recall a mainstream candidate(besides Obama, who in turn is taking crap from Clinton about it) who didn't respond the same way.
"All Options are on the Table."


Well to all the Suit-wearing-Oil-Drinking-Money-Grubbers... If all your options remain on the table... And if your choice is anything BUT "Fix Our Own Problems"... Then like I said before.... Shine up your riot gear.