As a person who is associated with progressive political groups and an information junkie intrigued with how we as a people create systems of meaning and belief, I sometimes notice patterns to which other people give little attention.
As a progressive who lives in Arizona, I see patterns of extremism all around me, and have reported on this for years. One of the trends that is particularly disturbing to me is the extremely conservative bias in national televised news.
This past week I heard about concern over “anarchists” descending on the RNC in Tampa on MSNBC. The only problem with this reporting is that in 2008 nearly all the people called anarchists at the RNC were not really anarchists, and there was a great deal of misrepresentation of what was going on there in the streets at the 2008 RNC. This sort of militarization of police continues today. 40 to 50 journalists were also arrested and their press credentials confiscated during coverage of protests in the streets of St. Paul. Amy Goodman, and two of her crew, recently received $100,000 settlement per those arrests. Settlements have also been awarded to individuals whose homes were raided without warrants two days before the 2008 RNC.
Is this sort of crap going to happen again? This week, the national news, supposedly left wing MSNBC, reports about anarchist warnings released by the FBI.
So as far as I can tell, MSNBC is covering the possibility of protests at the RNC while not reporting real acts of domestic terrorism. What gives? Two police officers were killed in Louisiana earlier this week and the individuals jailed and charged with these murders are very likely tied to “Sovereign Citizens.” This happens the same week that another “Sovereign Citizen” was in court in Phoenix for killing a Jewish couple in Paradise Valley, AZ earlier this year.
The FBI’s Law Enforcement Bulletin details the Sovereign Citizen group which really and truly is an anarchist group. The FBI is worried enough about this group to have informed notaries about them.
So possible threats, which are of dubious seriousness per previous experience with similar supposed threats from left leaning protesters, are reported, while actual terrorist related events and trials are not even mentioned by the same national networks. Have we forgotten Oklahoma City. Terry Nichols was associated with the Sovereign Citizens. From what I can tell from a simple google search these arrests are happening all over the U.S. Why are we not hearing about them?
Additional Ref: added afternoon of 8/26/2012. “Domestic Terrorism: A Persistent Threat in the United States“
Colorado City, TX to Dickson, TN
Woke up at the Days Inn in Colorado City, TX. Got to sleep at 2 a.m. local time. We were on the road for 12 hours yesterday. Today it was nice to wake up and get on the road in windmill country. All the trees here abouts, notice the use of the local vernacular, sort of list from the wind so it makes sense to harness wind energy here.
Spent a fair amount of time figuring out dog names
Sophia
Lucille
Zsu Zsu
Lady Gaga
Miss Kitty
Princess Leila
Mavis
Barbie
Jane’s Curtains
Barbara Steis-Hound
Bob
Chubakka
Jaba the Mutt
Hubby wanted BBQ so I googled BBQ I30 (what is this IH crap?) and Little Rock and found a place called Fat Boys BBQ. Didn’t have a Yelp review. But we went anyway and while it was not what we thought it would be… who ever heard of white folks running a BBQ joint? It was good. I had a pork sandwich with cole slaw and potato salad on the side. The meat was a tiny bit dry, but it was the very end of the day so I can’t complain about that; they were completely out of beef, and locked the doors behind us as we left. It was what I would call Kansas City style BBQ rather than the vinegar and mustard style you will find in Memphis and points east.
We’ve seen several “NOW HIRING” banners today at large plants. The one we passed outside of Little Rock was in the transportation industry, and that is a leading indicator of the economy. I think the Republicans may be a bit nervous about things getting better. Their window of opportunity for rolling back the New Deal and Great Society is closing, and they are sweating it and resorting to lies, outright lies, and damn lies.
I will talk about the economy but I will not talk about job creators and workers. I talk about people. People. Period.
Ascribed status and its inheritance from generation to generation, that is why it is called ascribed status, is what the extremely wealthy want, and there is a big difference between passing the family farm down to the next generation and having an oligarchy. Any time one group of people begins to think that they understand something that others cannot, or that they are anything more than lucky in birth, there is need for a revolution of sorts.
I recommend a book I brought with me on this trip called Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution, from the people who brought you the Yes Men, Billionaires for Bush, etc. which was assembled by Andrew Boyd and published by OR books. My friend Rae Abileah contributed extensively to the book. It is a collection of 1 to 3 page examinations of tactics, principles, theories, case studies, practitioners, resources, and bios. It spans tactics from informational, direction action, to monkey wrenching presented by people who have used, developed, revised, and in some cases, abandoned, specific revolutionary elements.
Do not let your children read this or they will use these tactics on you, the authority they question.
Today I’ve noted the perversity that is conservative states. We just passed a billboard about using corporal punishment as a good thing,
“Use the rod and save the child” was the reframed abuse encouragement I read on the billboard, believe it or not, and the next one up was for XXX adult warehouse discount stores. Does anyone besides me see that the co occurrence of publicly sanctioned perversity and sanctioned child abuse legitimized by Old Testament, North African Tribal customs may be more closely linked than the mainstream American would like to admit.
The sequester of normal desire away from integration into normal life leads to perversion and to the objectification not only of women but of children as possessions rather than life partners.
For good recent coverage of how to frame women’s health care outside of these same said patriarchal, tribal perspectives there is a good article by the guru of framing, George Lakoff,
in Huff Po today.
Another F Word Day – Friday Finds
Collected thoughts and unfinished masterpieces from the past week or so, that are MUST reading, that probably should have been tweets, and that show the true depths of the disorganized mind.
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MSNBC: I like NOW with Alex Wagner. Haven’t watched the new cable show they just hyped, but I want to watch The Newsroom on HBO. I need to automate the process of turning the TV on and off so it is off unless I’ve scheduled a program into it that I really want to watch. I do not want to record it. I wonder how I do this?
The partisan Bull Pucky that is the Republican Party”s refusal to govern and to just be all political all the time has to stop. The partisan crappola is supposed to stop the Wednesday after the election.
I wish I could like Nancy Pelosi, for the arm-in-arm walkout yesterday, but her taking the investigation of the Bush Administration per its behavior in Iraq off the table after the election in 2008 makes it impossible for me to trust anything she does.
Finally actually purchased my Amtrak tickets to and from BlogHer ’12. Been wanting to take a mini-sabbatical and write for several days without the concerns of animals, house, and husband. I need to have some uninterrupted time just working from the bloggy lobe and the writer’s neural net in my head. No, I’m not afraid to fly. I just enjoy trains. The trip I took to the first BlogHer BET in March of 2011 was by train from Tucson to San Jose. The leg of the trip from L.A. to San Jose along the coast was amazing! I’d do that trip again in a heartbeat. The Texas Eagle that I will take from Chicago to Tucson is NOT a scenic route, but I still plan to enjoy it to the fullest and take advantage of the time to write.
The corporatization of almost any public institution leads to evil.
I have so freaking much to do in the next couple of weeks….but I will conquer my lists, tasks, and so on and have a great visit with family, a productive BlogHer conference, and an amazing writing journey on the train home.
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Don’t steal content!
The featured image is from a professionally purchased graphics pack, that allows commercial use of imagess, that was gifted to me by The Hubby, bless his pointed little head, somewhere in the far past of “like ten years ago.” I enlarged the sign the woman in the image is holding and added the text on the sign using GIMP.
Thanks to The Word Nerd for reminding me that we should talk about this issue on our blogs.
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The Many Battle Fronts of the War on Women, and The War on Women of the Front
The war on women is real and it is being waged on many fronts.
The Invisible War is a documentary exposing the systemic coverup of the rape of U.S. military women by U.S. service members.
There is something very, very wrong with our military. I suspect it is related to being “all volunteer” when it is actually a military maintained by an economic draft that feeds off of the ever increasingly institutionalized socio-economic inequality in the United States.
We have never been a society of equals. We have always had an underclass that has not been allowed to have self-determination, be allowed to vote, have equal access to resources, and so on. Slaves, original peoples, women, immigrants, and so on have made up the underclasses. Only landed men originally had a say in the colonies. It has been less than 100 years that women have had the vote. Our country changes. How? Either by allowing change to happen or by attempting to influence the change that happens.
I suggest you watch this trailer:
What kind of a society allows and, by refusing to address it, sanctions rape? We create society. We can change it. Your tax dollars support this. Please do not ignore this atrocity. There is a Facebook Group, check that out to find out more.
And you definitely NEED to sign on to the call for action and investigation by House Member Congressman Michael Turner.
To find out a little bit more you might watch Retired Colonel Ann Wright’s talk from a couple years ago about how individuals totalling one-third of women in the military are raped and about some of the culture of abuse within the military. She is someone whom I have met many times and for whom I have very much respect. She never makes a situation seem less complex than it is, but neither does she give up on attempting to change what she knows of that is not right. Her book, Dissent: Voices of Conscience, is a damn good, but disturbing read if you don’t know the back stories of what really goes on in the ruling of our nation. Her talk does cover some of the things you can do to get involved in ending this horrific practice, but please do also click the sign on link above for Turner’s call for immediate action.. You cannot do too much.
Note: Updated 26 June 2012 with the Congressman Turner info! And for those of you in Tucson, Director KIRBY DICK will participate in The Loft’s post-film Q&A’s at the 7:00 p.m. shows on Friday, July 20th and Saturday, July 21st!
Synchronicity and Hope for America Found in Arizona, Of All Places
I love the concepts of synergy, synchronicity, and the untraceable, invisible spheres of influence that are so very present with every breath in life, and that pervade every molecule in the physical world. So when things align, and I observe patterns of behavior and occurence, I pay attention. There is unfortunately a huge problem distinguishing the line between pattern recognition via intuition, and delusions of reference. Oh well, C’est la vie. I invite you to click and listen to The Police while you read on.
Today is Fathers Day and my husband and my 23rd wedding anniversary. Synchronicity one.
The next area is the unusual and sad coupling of the silent march from Harlem to the Mayor’s home in NYC to end Stop and Frisk with the death of Rodney King, on the West Coast. This tragic event brings up memories I have of the horrific, thuggish police brutality in the near death beating of a black man in L.A., and the lack of ANY convictions of policemen in the case that in turn sparked the L.A. riots of ’91 is a strange co-occurence. Groups who both have been repressed, ghettoized, and lynched, and still experiences these outrages today,are banding together in a joint march that would have been unthinkable even last year. In spirit, I believe Rodney King and Matthew Shepard are walking with them arm in arm.
Political synchronicities seem to abound as of late.
I got really pumped up by attending a political event in support of Richard Carmona’s Senate campaign with the Hubby yesterday at which Rich obviously spoke, but at which Al Franken was the “Headliner.”
I realized at the event that I could feel the energy gathering to be released through a groundswell of Americans, of all sorts, banding together to restore opportunity for all Americans. The core principle of the American Dream was so real it was visceral. We are re-birthing the Dream sisters and brothers.
Rich Carmona, is the GOP’s worst nightmare: a true American Hero, holder of National level appointed post for a recent Republican President, decorated veteran (2 bronze stars), physician, deputy sheriff, SWAT Team leader who supports vets, women’s rights to access to complete autonomous access to healthcare, believes that what his mother told him about how women have never started a war and the real need for equitable reflection of percentages of women in the population to be seen in the government, and in the absolute need for access to education for all so as to allow pursuit of the American Dream. Carmona is such a strong candidate, a Democratic candidate, from Arizona, the proving ground for Republican general weaponry, as well as corporatist Weapons of Mass Cultural Destruction, that it almost makes me giddy. He is part of what looks to be the coalescing of several independent responses and reactions to Republican overreach and repression of rights. This synchronous coming together may well form the perfect storm of bipartisan groundswell to counter the systematic, anti-American, corporate-led dismantling of the American Dream.
This overlaps, for those of us in Tucson, with Ron Barber’s win to serve out the remainder of Gabrielle Giffords term in the U.S. House of Representatives. What may be even more important is that the extremist Right-wing candidate, Jesse Kelly, who has had full Republican backing in the last two House races for AZ District 8, announced he would not run again. In his concession speech on Tuesday night he said he would announce his intention to run again, or not, within a couple of days. I personally believe he wanted to run again, but that he had to check with the big money, national boys to see if they would pump the huge sums of money Kelly needed in order to even come close, and yet still lose, to his Democratic opponent in recent elections.
I think the big money boys said, “No.” Southeast Arizona should have campaigns that are fairly low key, and, of interest primarily to residents within the district. The Southeastern-most corner of Arizona, has always seemed to draw more national and big money attention from the RNC and the DNC than would be expected. This was true when the Rep was Jim Kolbe, when the Rep was Gabby Giffords, and now when the Rep is Ron Barber. I will have to write another piece to dig into the dirty dish that is that story.
Arizona has been pivotal as a symbol, a symbol that has been carefully constructed by the neo-con, tea-bagging, prison-and-guns-as-a-growth-industry, corporate backers. Our state has taken on iconic proportions. The people who have made Arizona the laughing stock of the nation are falling victim to one of the common pitfalls about which political strategists warn their clients; that is believing your own propaganda.
Our southern border, that happens to be a state and national border, has been “guarded” by Nazi-connected, child and family slayers. Much of the national press coverage depicted them as proud American patriots. Bull pucky. Our citizenry fell victim to cold blooded murder in an attempted assassination of a U.S. Member of Congress by a mentaToolslly off balance young man who read Mein Kampf and probably was influenced by the antipathy of outrage, lies, and vitriol that formed the center of an ideological war being waged in our backyards just like Sheriff Dupnik said. Sheriff Dupnik, synchronistically, has been Rich Carmona’s boss in his role as a deputy for over two decades.
Arizona isn’t what has been depicted in the media for so long. Our supposed State Leaders, who gather in Phoenix reflect political manipulation of legislative district lines, huge influxes of national and international corporate money in podunk elections, actual election rigging, far more than they do the Arizona people. The un-balance of power in our State House that lists toward ultra right wing king pins, uber-Christian zealots, and Mormons whose families were too conservative to live in Utah make up a disproportionate block there. This in no way reflects Arizona’s amazing diversity and eclectic richness. The oligarchy has ruled here for quite some time.
It allowed extremist Russell Pearce to preside over the Arizona Senate until he was recalled through bi-partisan efforts to oust the “Man behind Jan” and good friend of known neo-Nazi J. T. Ready. Ready was Republican candidate for Pinal County Sheriff and Minute Man Militia Member and also falls into the category of mass murderer who killed his family, including a toddler, before killing himself earlier this year.
I attended a debate between all the parties running for Congress in 2010 on the University of Arizona Campus. The person with whom I attended was holding a Giffords sign outside the venue after the event. Neo-nazi thugs who had been evident inside the venue as Jesse Kelly supporters came up to us with their German-esque lettering, Nazi slogan-infested black t-shirts and other skinhead regalia, and attempted to push over and intimidate my friend. When our ground was firmly stood, they spat on my friend’s shoes.
I have spoken out, for years about these disturbing connections between out of control, intimidation wielding, murder threatening thugs, and rogue cops within Tucson Police Department. This was even before the local and state level Republican Party has allowed the likes of Kelly and Ready to represent them. I still firmly believe the Tea Party funded by the Koch Bros tested their on the ground “astro turf” tactics right here in Tucson all the way down to the border. I am not the only person to notice these connections that seem to link neo-Nazis with government “leaders” in Arizona. Tucson housed retired mafioso, but Phoenix was where the dirty work was done. Just like Vegas, the glitz and bling of false, neo-con idolatry was probably planned near Tucson.
The equal and opposite reaction that cultural systems theorists would predict in reaction to the massive swing toward fascism this country took over the last several decades may well be building as I write. Being inside the systems in which these sorts of homeostatic properties operate, we cannot see or understand what is really happening. But just like in math and physics, we can observe patterns, that may or may not signify anything.
But really, a former Surgeon General who heads up SWAT teams and was awarded two bronze stars hanging out with a former Saturday Night Live comedian surely signifies that “the times, they are a changin’.”
Al Franken Stumping for Rich Carmona in Tucson
I’m very hopeful right now. I attended a political event tonight for Rich Carmona who is running for U.S. Senator from Arizona. Senator from Minnesota, Al Franken, was stumping AZ with and for Carmona today.
It was fun to meet Al, and to hear what he said about Rich, but the whole gathering made me have hope for Arizona, and the U.S.; Al was psyched about Carmona, the place was packed, much bigger turn out than expected, and people seem truly energized and inspired by this amazing guy. Other than the “theme” song that blasted from speakers before folks took to the stage, and that I am still not so sure is the right one for the campaign, it was a good party. The song? My Sharona by The Knack. The syllabic fit of “Rich Carmona” and “For Arizona” does match “My Sharona” rather nicely, but really now… The Knack? And that song?
If you don’t know about him, prepare to be amazed by his bio. I’ve condensed and rewritten his story below. But you really ought to read the original, real, full bio on the Carmona for Arizona site.
Rich dropped out of high school, enlisted in the Army and went to Vietnam. In the service he completed his high school equivalency degree so he could become a combat medic and apply to Special Forces. Two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, a combat medical badge and many other decorations mark his service.
After Vietnam, Rich became the first member of his family to earn a college degree, an Associate of Arts from Bronx College. attended Bronx Community College. He worked as a nurse which getting his B.S. from the University of California, San Francisco. Two years after that Rich completed his medical degree and received the gold-headed cane award as the school’s top graduate.
A general and vascular surgeon, he also completed an NIH-sponsored fellowship in trauma, burns, and critical care. A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Carmona was recruited jointly by the Tucson Medical Center and the University of Arizona to start and direct Southern Arizona’s first regional trauma care system. Eventually he became chairman of the State of Arizona Southern Regional Emergency Medical System, a professor of surgery, public health and family and community medicine at the University of Arizona, and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department surgeon.
Deeply committed to public service, Carmona has also served for over 25 years Pima County Sheriff’s Department in which he has served for more than 25 years as a deputy sheriff, detective, department surgeon and SWAT Team Leader for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. He was part of a rescue team in the early 1990s that inspiring a made-for-TV movie about rescuing a paramedic in the wilderness in a snow storm by rappelling from a helicopter that then crashed. Carmona has received the National Top Cop Award and was also named the National SWAT Officer of the Year.
In 2002, Carmona was nominated by the president and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate as the 17th Surgeon General of the United States. His campaign site summarizes that service this way, “While very successful as Surgeon General, he unfortunately also experienced the divisive politics that continue to plague Washington today — where the desire to score political points has become more important than solving problems, creating jobs or providing for those in need. That experience guides his current mission to become Arizona’s next senator and change how Washington works.”
In 2007, Dr. Carmona testified before Congress that political appointees had put partisan politics ahead of science — especially when it came to the public’s health — in hopes that shining a light on how the administration operated could bring change. He testified: “The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party.”
He returned to Tucson and Pima County where he again served as a deputy sheriff, he became the first Distinguished Professor of Public Health at the University of Arizona’s College of Public Health.
You could not make up a fictional character with this life story as no one would believe it. Carmona is the kind of man who should be in the Senate. Carmona is the type of man our Founding Fathers (and Mothers, remember the ladies…) probably envisioned to serve as Senator; war hero, respected professional in his field, and a sense of duty to his community and state who can serve as an elder statesman.
He will put the likes of Dr. Tom Coburn, Dr. Rand Paul, and Dr. John Barrasso, to shame as Senator/physician colleagues.
Carmona tells the story of his mother telling him that no woman has ever started a war and that equal rights will bring a more balanced world. He speaks with conviction that healthcare is a right and every woman has the right to control her own healthcare choices. He was homeless and hungry as a child and wants to see every child healthy and educated, and secure in the knowledge that the opportunity to achieve the American Dream and realize the potential to build a good, rewarding life still exists and is open to him or herl
I think it could happen. There was a symbol of promise and hope in the sky as Carmona spoke tonight. Arizona wasn’t always a Red State. Remember Deconcini? Well actually do not think too long about that one. But do remember the blueness of the the likes of Mo Udall, though that was House and not Senate. Any way, it has happened before and all that really needs to happen again is to get the info about Rich out there and let his life story speak for itself. I think he will appeal to many folks from Arizona all across party lines because in our hearts we all love America and want it to return to being a place where ours differences are our strength rather than grounds for disrespect, dishonesty, and destruction.
I was impressed that Al Franken seemed to be truly humbled to be campaigning for the man. Sure, Rich Carmona is a Democrat now, but he has served under a Republican President, and declared himself an Independent most of his life. He is an American who feels called to meet the needs of the people of Arizona for a Senator who really will work for the people, the citizens, and in the interests of the state and not just the corporate and industry interests that may or may not reside in Arizona and may or may not be good for the people of the state. He seemed to have impressed the hell out of Franken.
As a Tucsonan, he knows there is much more to Arizona than the caricatures of idiocy put in place by a handful of überlord land owners and corporate/ranch family dynasties through gerrymandering, election rigging, hackable voting machines, voter suppression, and other nefarious, but now commonplace, neo-con and tea bag practices.