meet: The Drafted

I know I talk about my band sometimes so I thought I'd post a video that I made the other day.

"They did everything they were trained to do[: murder]"

From the AP:

Eight Marines were charged Thursday in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians last year during a bloody, door-to-door sweep in the town of Haditha that came after one of their comrades was killed by a roadside bomb.

In the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war, four of the Marines — all enlisted men — were charged with unpremeditated murder.

[...]

The most serious charges were brought against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, a 26-year-old squad leader accused of murdering 12 civilians and ordering the murders of six more inside a house cleared by his squad. He was accused of telling his men to "shoot first and ask questions later," according to court papers released by his attorney.

[...]

Defense attorneys have disputed that, saying their clients were doing as they had been taught: responding to a perceived threat with legitimate force.

"There's no question that innocent people died that day, but Staff Sergeant Wuterich believes, and I believe, they did everything they were trained to do," said Wuterich's lawyer, Neal Puckett.

click here for all of it

As these Marines' attorney said, they were doing what they were taught. The Marines have been taught to shoot every single target they can find in the vacinity of an attack, no questions asked. That doesn't sound like spreading democracy to me. What are we doing over there?

Iraq troop buildup idea worries generals

From the AP via Yahoo! News:

A White House laboring to find a new approach in Iraq said Tuesday it is considering sending more U.S. troops, an option that worries top generals because of its questionable payoff and potential backlash. President Bush said he is ready to boost the overall size of an American military overstretched by its efforts against worldwide terrorism.

The military's caution on shipping thousands of additional troops temporarily to Iraq is based on a fear that the move could be ineffective without bold new political and economic steps.

Commanders also worry that the already stretched Army and Marine Corps would be even thinner once the short-term surge ended. Bush's newly expressed interest in making the military larger would have little impact on that worry because it will take much longer to add substantially to the size of the military.

Generals also question whether sending more troops to Iraq would feed a perception that the strife in Iraq is mainly a military problem; in their view it is largely political, fed by economic distress.

click here for all of it

Like I said in the previous post, he's the worst ever. We shouldn't send more troops, take it from the generals. They know a little more about war than the president, that's what they're there for. Bush has been notorious for doing the opposite of what his generals say, and putting his owns words in their mouths. Almost any time they talk about his strategy, it's like a negative critique. Isn't that tendancy a bit of a clue?

WORST EVER!

By far the worst

President Bush said today that he plans to put more troops in Iraq.

Who does this guy think he is? He's stuck in 2003 or something. This is absolutely, inarguably, undeniably, grounds for impeachment.

I'm stunned he thinks he can get away with this.

Does anyone still feel like explaining why it's dumb to still have toops in Iraq? Is it pointless to explain why we never should have gone in there?

"The search is on"

From the AP via Yahoo! News:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Kip Davis and Jay Robison saw what they believed was an ivory-billed woodpecker on Thursday, one of thousands of reported sightings piling up as leaves in an east Arkansas swamp drift down.

[...]

Connie Bruce, a spokeswoman for Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology, which is researching the possible re-appearance of the ivory-billed woodpecker, said the search continues despite no evidence being turned up last winter.

"The search is on," Bruce said. "This is very important to us. We all want to locate this bird."

click here for all of it

Seriously, if you've seen this woodpecker anywhere, please contact your local animal control office. This is a problem we've got to address. We're losing too many soldiers in Iraq as it is, we can't afford to lose this woodpecker.

America's Injustice System is Criminal

From Counter Punch by way of RealArt:

The Christmas season is a time to remember the unfortunate. Among the most unfortunate people are those who have been wrongly convicted and imprisoned.

The United States has a large number of wrongfully convicted. There are many reasons for this. One is that the US has the largest percentage of its citizens imprisoned of all countries in the world, including China. One of every 32 US adults is behind bars, on probation or on parole. Given a wrongful conviction rate, the larger the percentage of citizens in jails, the greater the number of wrongfully convicted.

According to the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College in London, the US has 700,000 more of its citizens incarcerated than China, a country with a population four to five times larger than that of the US, and 1,330,000 more people in prison than crime-ridden Russia. The US has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's prisoners. The American incarceration rate is seven times higher than that of European countries. Either America is the land of criminals, or something is seriously wrong with the criminal justice (sic) system in "the land of the free."

click here for all of it

This is pretty wild. He gives a few examples of people who've been convicted with no evidence. This article mentions a whole bunch of specific issues regarding injustice, though not citing examples for all of them. It's a good read, but some of it is pretty arguable.

Calif. company faces immigration charges

From the AP via Yahoo! News:

A Southern California fence-building company and two executives pleaded guilty Thursday to knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and agreed to pay a combined penalty of $5 million. The executives could also go to prison.

The penalty is one of the biggest fines ever imposed in an immigration case, and the case represents a rare instance in which prosecutors brought criminal charges over the hiring of illegal immigrants.

[...]

The two men admitted hiring at least 10 illegal immigrants.

[...]

Hirsch said prosecutors plan to ask for six months behind bars for the two men at sentencing March 28. The maximum sentence is five years. Prison time is unusual in such cases.

Among Golden State Fence's projects in recent years was construction of part of a 14-mile border fence in San Diego in the late 1990s.

Last year, in one of the biggest cases of its kind, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to end a federal investigation into the use of illegal immigrants at stores in 21 states.

Companies are rarely hit with criminal charges for hiring illegal immigrants.

[...]

The illegal hiring took place between 1999 and 2005.

[...]

Golden State, which has 750 employees, saw sales soar from $60 million in 1998 to $150 million in 2004, according to a biography of Kay provided by the company.

The plea bargain comes just days after federal authorities raided meat processing plants in six states as part of an investigation into the stealing and selling of identity documents so illegal immigrants could get jobs.

clickhereforallofit

That seventh little paragraph says it all. Companies rarely get busted for this because the government just isn't that concerned with illegal labor, though this article seems to show that the government is suddenly cracking down on this issue, which is what I've always said the government needed to do. I'd still like to hear this side of the illegal immigration debate more often, even though I can't stand the illegal immigration debate because it was so obviously sparked recently to distract us from Iraq.

Anyway, I'm right, always have been, thanks for stopping by, say no to corporate labor abuse.

Bush: I won't be rushed on Iraq

From the AP via Yahoo! News:

President Bush said Wednesday he would "not be rushed" into a decision on a strategy change for Iraq, saying that in a round of consultations he heard both some interesting ideas and some "ideas that would lead to defeat."

"And I reject those ideas," Bush said after meeting with top generals and Defense Department officials at the Pentagon. He said those ideas included "leaving before the job is done, ideas such as not helping this (Iraqi) government take the necessary and hard steps to be able to do its job."

clickhereforallofit

"Ideas that WOULD lead to defeat?" We're there Georgie! Get the fuck out!! There's no victory when there's no plan, and you can't decide on a plan! You keep changing your plan, you keep changing the whole fucking purpose of this "war." Get the fuck out!

"Before the job is done?" Give me a break and get the fuck out. Of Iraq. Right now.

Police: Ill. gunman [not terrorist] angry over invention

From the AP via Yahoo! News:

Joe Jackson, 59, made at least one other attempt Friday to enter the offices of the intellectual property law firm Wood, Phillips, Katz, Clark & Mortimer, but was turned away because he didn't have an appointment, said Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline.

The next time he returned, Jackson had a revolver, knife and hammer hidden in a manila envelope, Cline said. He forced a security guard at gunpoint to take him up to the 38th floor, where shooting victim Michael McKenna, 58, rented office space. Jackson carried McKenna's business card in his pocked, Cline said.

click here for all of it

I don't mean to ignore the actual story, but I am. I've posted this to point out that Joe Jackson is not a terrorist, he is a gunman. He was angry, shot some people, his religion, or lack thereof, is irrelevant. Even the word "terror" is nowhere to be found on the entire web page.

Also in Illinois:

A Muslim convert is in custody accused of trying to trade two stereo speakers for a 9 mm pistol and the grenades authorities say he wanted to carry out an attack on holiday shoppers.

[...]

The imam of the Muslim Association of Greater Rockford, Shpendim Nadzaku, commended authorities for intercepting the alleged plot and reiterated "the Muslim community's condemnation of terrorism in the name of Islam."

click here for all of it (also from the AP via Yahoo! News)

This web page had "terror," "terrorist," and "terrorism," in several places, though the article itself only used the word "terrorism" once, but it was okay because a Muslim said it...

Joe Jackson the gunman actually killed some people, Derrick Shareef the terrorist never got the chance to.

I dunno about you but I'm about to saddle up for the War on Gumanism.

Bush's Meeting With A Murderer

From Tompaine.com (Dec. 4th, 2006) by Robert Dreyfuss:

President George W. Bush meets today with Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the [...] leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a Shiite fundamentalist party that is strongly tied to Iran. In so doing, the president is meeting with someone who, perhaps more than anyone else in Iraq, is responsible for trying to destroy Iraqi national unity, prevent national reconciliation among Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian mix, and push Iraq into civil war.

click here for all of it

Whats the difference between harboring terrorists and shaking hands with them?

I guess going and meeting with them on their turf takes a little more work, or maybe lack thereof. Enough joking, Bush is literally shaking hands with the enemy, with a real "evil doer," as he calls others. How does he continue to get away with this shit?

or

Just watched V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta is one of the best movies ever. I am pumped right now! Wish I had seen it in theaters. Why didn't people revolt after that movie? It's so perfect, it lays out exactly whats wrong with several governments right now, it's basically a re-telling of Orwell's 1984, a story that still needs to be told. Every day. Until people wise up.

I'm gonna go torch some buildings now.

I coined 'turban street'

In the next few days you may hear various versions of a joke that I posted in a myspace bulletin with the punchline of "turban street."

I am using this blog to publish the joke and have concrete proof that I said it first.

The joke:

Jen: (after several emergency vehicles zoom by the cafe) Man whats going on?? They've caught Osama bin Laden in New Orleans!

Me: Yeah, they caught him on TURBAN STREET!

Just wait, turban streets gonna be HUGE, you'll see.

"Seeing money can change behavior"

From the AP via Yahoo! News:

Kathleen Vohs, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota, and colleagues, conducted a series of nine experiments in which people were asked to do puzzles or other tasks and the behavior of people exposed to money was compared to others who were not prompted to think about it.

[...]

In another experiment 44 students at Florida State University were each given $2 in quarters — which they were told was leftover from a previous experiment — and asked to unscramble sentences that divided them into two groups, one that was reminded of money by the sentence and others that were not.

When they left, the researcher noted that there was a box by the door for donations for needy students if they wanted to chip in, but they didn't have to.

On average, students who had read neutral sentences donated $1.34 while those whose sentences reminded them of money kept more for themselves, giving an average of just 77 cents.

[...]

Vohs research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canada Research Chair Council.

clickhereforallofit

I dunno, [something about capitolism]. Its a really interesting study, I recommend reading all of it. I'm not exactly sure how to interpret the results, but they don't really suprise me. What would we do without Canada?

Will the Dems suprise me?

From the AP:

Dem scrutiny of drugs, defense expected

[...]

Generally speaking, Democrats have said they will differ from Republicans by being tougher watchdogs of corporate wrongdoing and government spending and bigger defenders of consumers and labor unions.

clickhereforallofit

Here's hoping.

Fundamentals of an Acceptable Democracy (for the United States of America)

Government leaders should put social goals above economic goals; human interests are more important than business interests.

Political candidates should not be supported by private corporations; politicians should not be allowed to accept contributions from businesses--only individual citizens, and large donations should be investigated and/or scrutinized.

Government should provide at least two years of free education for highschool graduates.

Study of the humanities should be emphasized in public school curriculum.

If they appear on more than half of all the states' ballots, third party presidential candidates should be allowed to participate in presidential debates with major party candidates.

The public should be allowed to vote on major national budget issues, i.e. considerable cuts or raises in funding for any government programs.

Personal privacy should not be infringed upon, even in established or declared national security crises or "troubled times" or "high stakes."

The public should vote on declarations of war and/or any kinds of military invasion, occupation or force against another country. Government should not order offensive military action without the consent of the public (by means of the voting process).

A truely democratic country will not use military intervention to change another country's governmental system, leadership, or philosophy.

All basic human rights that a government observes within its national borders should be equally observed outside of its national borders; war crimes are unacceptable, even if the opposing country/government has already committed them (even in greater volume or with higher severity).

Using Saddam's sentence to boost Republican votes

From AFP (Agence France Presse):

US voters weight Republican fate on election eve

[...]

Candidates in down-to-the-wire races cranked up get-out-the-vote efforts and Bush launched a final three-state campaign swing, with polls showing a tightening of a race expected to heap pain on his fellow Republicans.

[...]

On Sunday, he taunted anti-war critics by holding up the death sentence handed down on former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as vindication for the 2003 US invasion.

"My decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision, and the world is better off for it," he said.

clickhereforallofit

Its no suprise that Republicans, especially Bush, would try to use Saddam's death sentence as a last minute vote booster. Everyone hates Saddam, but will the American people be convinced that the world is better off now that Hussein is going to hang?

Lets not forget that the search for WMDs showed up practically empty, and there's no evidence that they were going to start a nuke program or supply "terrorists" with weapons or anything that extreme.

Are the American people gullible enough to keep Republicans in power just because Saddam has been sentenced to death? He's been captive for like two years now, whats really the difference? Troops are still dying, and Iraq doesn't appear to be stabilizing at all -- "Oh yay, Saddam's gonna hang!..."

If Americans are happy about Saddam's death sentence, they should remember that EVERYONE in Congress wanted to go to war back in 2003. Well, they voted for it, at least. But is his death sentence a victory in this so-called war on terror? Yeah right.

"Wrecker-in-Chief"

from nader.org:

On October 17th, George W. Bush, signed into law a bill he bulldozed through Congress that, in Senator Patrick Leahy’s prophetic words, would suspend “the writ of habeas corpus, a core value in American law, in order to avoid judicial review that prevents government abuse.” This law, whose constitutionality is in doubt and will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in due time, puts so much arbitrary and secret unilateral power in the hands of the Presidency that the ghost of King George III must be wondering what all the fuss was about in 1776.

If you want more evidence of how obsessively-compulsed George W. Bush is about his wars, their fabrications, budgets and cover-ups, consider his cue card statement on the legislation at the White House signing ceremony. “It is a rare occasion when a president can sign a bill he knows will save American lives,” he declared.

Hello! He has rejected all kinds of occasions to save American lives here at home. He has refused to do anything about the widespread and preventable mayhem known as medical and hospital malpractice, while fanatically pushing for restrictions on the right of such victims or their next of kin to have their full day in court. At least 80,000 Americans die from malpractice just in hospitals every year, according to the Harvard School of Public Health.

The same Presidential pen could have saved thousands of more lives and prevented many more injuries were it to alight on safety legislation and larger budgets for reducing job-related sickness and trauma (58,000 lost lives a year) and air pollution (65,000 lives a year) – to name a few categories of preventable violence. But he signaled from the onset of his Presidency that such bills would be opposed from the getgo.

And once again remember his incompetence in letting U.S. soldiers – hundreds of them die in Iraq from the lack of adequate body armor.

At the signing event, Mr. Bush called the legislation “a way to deliver justice to the terrorists we have captured.” To him all captured subjects are ipso facto convicted terrorists. It is not as if his record gives any credence to such fantasies. But he persists in his deception none the less. Out of nearly 700 prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, he has charged only ten after over four years of detention. Ten! Why? Mostly, as military, civilian lawyers and other monitors have said, because the vast majority of these abused or beaten prisoners were innocent from the day of their apprehension – victims of bounty hunters in Afghanistan and surroundings.

clickhereforallofit

I don't have time to write much about this, I just think its a damn good read. If you have second thoughts about George Bush when you hear sound bites on Fox News, just read Ralph.

Cops crash a country show at Walter's

From the Houston Chronicle:

A Houston police officer responding to a noise complaint Friday night at Walter's, a popular music venue on Washington Avenue, discharged his Taser at least three times when a melee ensued after he told a guitar player to turn down the volume.

[...]

[Sgt. Nate] McDuell said [Adam] Stephens, whose guitar was hanging from a neck strap, then used a sexual obscenity and shoved the officer with his shoulder.

[...]

Stephens said he was sideways and singing on the stage just before he turned around and saw the officer, who then shined a flashlight at him and said, "Stop."

Stephens, who denied shoving the officer, said he responded, "Why?"

He said the officer moved closer to him and yelled, "Stop!"

Stephens said he again asked why and that the officer then grabbed him by the neck and forced him to the floor.

Accounts vary, but apparently several people then charged the stage, there was a lot of pushing and shoving, and the officer called for backup.

[...]

[G.M.] Rodriguez suffered bruises and cuts on his arms, at least four people were arrested, a valuable bass was broken. A tall, slender 14-year-old with shoulder-length hair was Tasered, and a University of Houston sociology student doing a "field paper on the music scene" also was Tasered.

clickhereforallofit

I heard about this from my girlfriend a few days ago, but it was second hand from a Hot Topic employee so I wasn't sure if it was true (because that store's specialty is fabrication).

What suprises me the most is that these bands got the cops called on it. WAAAY louder bands have played at Walter's before, like The Casualties for example, who are actually coming back to Walter's this Friday, and I think Youth Brigade played sometime last week.

There's no question that this cop was an asshole and was completely out of line. So I'm not going to discuss that.

My theory as to why the cops targeted Walter's is that they were actually called about an earlier, louder show, the kind that Walter's has more often than these "laid back country" shows. It must have been just a slow night for this cop and he happened to drive by Walter's and recognized the name of the place and heard some noise. Hell, the neighbor who called the cops probably does so every single night! So this Rodriguez character decides he's actually going to humor the neighbors tonight and show up.

I can imagine how confusing it would be for a cop to be so pissed off about some laid back folk rock show.

Here's how it plays out in my head: you're up on the stage playing your guitar, the bright stage lights make it difficult to see anyone in the crowd, you seem to be ignoring the cop because you CAN'T FUCKING SEE HIM, so he gets up on the stage and approaches you; if you're facing away from the crowd (to the side in this case), you probably can't see him even after he comes up onto the stage so you accidentally run into him as you turn back to face the crowd.

Basically, if Stephens really did run into that cop first, it was quite likely just an accident, and this cop flipped out.

I've been planning on booking a show out at Walter's for my loud, rowdy punk rock band, The Drafted. Luck for us, Houston cops would rather raid the mellow college crowd!

Whats wrong with this picture?

From NPR:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters the United States is open to negotiations with North Korea to "keep the crisis from escalating."

[...]

Rice's trip to Asia is aimed at boosting support in South Korea and China for sanctions against North Korea.

clickhereforallofit

Maybe I don't fully understand what sanctions are, or whatever the Bush administration means by "sanctions" these days, but it doesn't seem like a form of negotiation to me. And I think the term "open to negotiations" kind of goes out the window when you're pushing for sanctions. Like, "We're open to anything, but mostly just sanctions." I can't believe Rice is actually trying to make it sound like the administration wants to negotiate.

I guess they really mean to negotiate with South Korea and China about placing sanctions against North Korea. Thats really the only way to make sense of it.

But, how dumb am I being by trying to rationalize something the Bush administration is doing?

Why I'm not scared of North Korea

Its been more than two years now since I wrote a song called "North Korea" for my punk band, The Drafted. The song was about my confusion after I first heard that North Korea claimed to have a Bomb. I couldn't understand why we were invading Iraq because they might be trying to start a nuke program (the first reason we were there) while another country, with a considerably more insane dictator, actually admitted to having such weapons and our leaders essentially ignored it.

The media paid closer attention this summer when they tested those missiles, but now that they've tested this nuke its really gotten crazy, on both sides. I mean, Kim Jong Il is out of his fucking mind. No one is disputing that; the man is insane, but he's not dumb enough to use his weapons before someone else does first. How do I know this? North Korea is all Kim Jong Il has! NO ONE likes that guy! If he tries to take the offensive and nuke another country first, he knows he's going to get creamed by one of the other several nuclear states, no matter who he nukes. Inversely, we can't do SHIT to them now, so we might as well humor them and include them in international dialogue.

The North Korean government has repeatedly said that they developed the nuclear weapons as a defensive measure. With Il's insanity aside, how hard is that to believe? Freaking out about it only displays everyone's belief that they're a bunch of animals, and maybe they will end up using them first if we keep acting that way.

Its like bees. If you don't bother them, they don't bother you. I've had wasps land on me before and I just froze; they fly away immediately. Whether North Korea deserves respect or not, we've got to give it to them now. The only way to get them to listen to dissarmament talks would be for the other nuclear nations to dissarm first, and who expects that to happen any time soon?

No one seems to be looking at the nuclear situation in the same way that I am, maybe I'm the crazy one.