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Freedom Isn't Free!

There's a nice old guy in my office with that bumper sticker on his office window. FREEDOM ISN'T FREE -- SUPPORT THE TROOPS I chuckle to myself every time I see it, since once, about 7 years ago, I was arrested for simply walking down the street. Not in China or North Korea, mind you. No, this happened in America, the so-called land of the free and home of the brave. A friend and I had decided to go to a bar a couple of miles away. We also decided that we were going to walk, that way we could feel free to drink as much as we wanted. So, we did. After a few hours of good conversation and good brew, we walked home. Or rather, we tried to walk home. After about a mile, a cop car pulled up along-side of us. In true Nazi fashion, they shined flashlights in our faces and asked us why we were walking in the middle of the night. It's fair to say that it was at this point that both my friend and copped an attitude. I didn't feel I owed anyone an explanation, and I said so. (Thoughts of Nazi Germany went through my mind: "Papers! Let me see your papers!") It helped that I had only had 3 or 4 beers, so I wasn't really drunk. Mellow? Sure. But drunk, no. And even if I was drunk, we were just quietly walking down the street, for cryin' out loud. My friend was a bit more vocal than me with his protests. His reply to the question was "Fuck you, pig." Heh. To make a long story short, we both spent the night in jail. For walking down the street in what is supposedly the freest country in the world. Ironically, if we had chosen to do the irresponsible thing, and drive, we'd have never gone to jail that night, because we'd never have been stopped. As I said, I didn't have much to drink. I would have made it home just fine. But two guys walking down the road in the middle of the night -- well, I guess that was just too easy of a target for them. Even more ironically, at the time, my wife was an assistant county attorney (prosecutor) in a city 120 miles away. My best friend in that town was a police officer. 9 times out of 10 when our phone rang after 9pm, it was a local cop wanting to ask my wife a question. I was thinking about all of that when the arresting officer called me a scumbag several times. America. Land of the free. I would submit that anyone with that dumbass bumper sticker has never been in a situation like this. So there you have it -- the story of the first and only time I've ever been arrested.

'Impeach Bush' Reaches The Mainstream

PLEASE NOTE: I'm giving permission for anyone to copy this entry for posting into their own blog, so long as you copy it in its entirety, including links, and from this sentence down to the end. Let's get the word out! From the Martian Anthropologist Blog: 'Impeach Bush' Reaches the Mainstream I've been waiting for this day for a while. Impeachment is no longer a word only used by "radical left-wing liberals". Heh. Among others, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post are writing about it: From The Washington Post:

...Because, damn -- this impeachment stuff is really getting around. It's all over the blogosphere. It's the cover story in the current Harper's. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has passed an impeachment resolution. Antiwar activists, civil libertarians, all the usual-suspect constituencies have growing impeachment tendencies. But it's reaching beyond the usual suspects, as I discovered last month when I appeared on a media panel before the national legislative conference of a major union. Local activists from across the nation spent an hour asking us questions, and one out of every three queries, it seemed to me, boiled down to, "How can we impeach this guy?"

From the Toronto Star:

Lewis Lapham, the outgoing editor of Harper's magazine and one of the country's most outspoken Bush critics, makes the case for impeachment in the March issue of his magazine. It includes this indictment:"We have before us in the White House a thief who steals the country's good name and reputation for his private interest and personal use; a liar who seeks to instill in the American people a state of fear; a televangelist who engages the United States in a never-ending crusade against all the world's evil; a wastrel who squanders a vast sum of the nation's wealth on what turns out to be a recruiting drive certain to multiply the host of our enemies. "In a word, a criminal --— known to be armed and shown to be dangerous."

From the Wall Street Journal:

If Democratic candidate Tony Trupiano wins a Michigan House seat this fall, he pledges that one of his first acts will be to introduce articles of impeachment against President Bush. That has earned Mr. Trupiano the endorsement of ImpeachPAC, a group of Democratic activists seeking to remove Mr. Bush from office. ImpeachPAC's Web site lists 14 candidates offering similar commitments, which are reminiscent of the Republican drive to oust former President Bill Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

So: All of you out there that love America, but are getting tired an American President trashing the freedoms that so many of our countrymen have fought and died for, take heart. The criminal is on his way out. Originally written on the Martian Anthropologist Blog.

Voluntary Simplicity.

Interesting article this weekend on Alternet, about a new book: Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping. Author Judith Levine decided to go a whole year without buying anything more than necessary food and other essentials:

Levine begins the book by telling us about a mid-December day in 2003 when she found herself jammed into a subway car, fighting to protect her shopping bags from other people's muddy boots. Her joy was depleting as rapidly as her bank account. "I have maxed out the Visa, moved on to the Citibank debit card, and am tapping the ATM like an Iraqi guerrilla pulling crude from the pipeline," she wrote. That was when the idea occurred to her: Why don't we just stop buying? And thus was born the premise for this engaging and thought-provoking chronicle of 2004, the year that Levine and her domestic partner, Paul, simply said no to buying.

I certainly applaud this, because in my opinion, most Americans buy, buy buy -- and that's why they have to work, work, work. But I think she went a bit too far. No rented movies? No books on the dollar rack at the used book store? One of the secrets to life is balance. For example, I went to the used bookstore the other day, and bought about 20 books and spend 20 dollars. I can watch almost any movie ever made with a cheap (about $20 a month, 4 out at a time) subscription to Netflix. You don't have to spend a lot to be happy, but if you're going to live in modern civilization, spending nothing isn't realistic. The last thought I have on this topic, for now, is this: When the subject of voluntary simplicity or or spending less comes up, I find that people inevitably focus on what they are losing. I like to focus on what I'm gaining: More free time because I don't have to work nearly as much to support my spending habits, more time with my wife and son -- more time with myself. As this web author writes:

Many simplicity gurus urge us to become "tightwads" as the true path to a simple life. But voluntary simplicity and frugality are not really the same thing. To be sure, frugality is a vehicle for achieving simplicity, but the driving force is a vision, a philosophy, a world view. If life were a poem, simplicity would be the poet, frugality the line and meter. If life were a painting, simplicity would be the artist, frugality the paint and brushes. If life were a building, simplicity would be the architect, frugality the hammer and boards. Voluntary simplicity is about freedom. It’s about owning your own life. Frugality is living with less of what money can buy. Voluntary simplicity is wanting less.

One can always make more money. But we only have a finite amount of time. And I would far rather be time-rich than money-rich. (Cartoon from here.)

Zoos Are Evil.

Yeah, you read that title correctly. Where exactly do humans get the idea that it's a good thing to kidnap other creatures, and put them in cages? The reason given by zoo advocates is human education. But that answer doesn't wash. First of all, what makes our knowledge of another species more important than their freedom? But even more to the point: If you truly want to learn about another species, you need to observe them in their natural habitat -- not in a cage. I was listening to NPR's All Things Considered Friday afternoon. Apparently, the city of Los Angeles is trying to decide whether to spend $50 million dollars on a new elephant prison -- er, habitat. At one point in the story, the zoo director chuckles about how "spoiled" Billy the elephant is. Yeah. Right. Hey pal -- a prison with gold bars is still a prison. Meanwhile, according to the LA Daily News, Los Angeles has the worst homeless problem in the country. Let's recap. Los Angeles leaders have the worst homeless problem in the United States -- quite a feat! But they want to spend $50 million dollars on an elephant prison? Get your priorities straight, Mr. Mayor. I've got a solution. Spend a few thousand dollars shipping Billy back to the wild, and spend the rest of that money on the homeless problem. Or is that solution too simple? As an aside, I always find it amusing when people talk about possible alien contact. (I know what you're thinking; what the hell does this have to do with zoos? Stay with me.) People often hypothesize that first contact will be with these nice aliens who will immediately solve all Earth's problems and show humans a better way. But why should this be the case? After all, how do humans treat other species? At best, humans kidnap them and put them into prisons for "educational" purposes. At worse, they hunt them for pleasure, and then eat them. So, anyway. Zoos. Evil. I simply do not understand the thought process behind taking away another species' freedom for human amusement.

A Message From Alternet.

I don't usually pass on stuff like this, but in this case, I feel it's very important. ~ Martian Dear Friend, I'm sure you've noticed how bad things are in America today. The Bush administration has taken us down a path to a radically transformed society. Frankly, soon it may be too late to put on the brakes. It is time to sound the alarm now. Had Enough? Take A Stand. Donate Now. Before he is done, Bush will have left the economy in ruins, trashed our rights, created the most glaring inequality since the Gilded Age, abandoned many more people who have no health insurance, and put our courts in the hands of radical conservatives. Just look at a quick snapshot: * The horror of Iraq continues. Bush's invasion has taken more than 2,400 American lives, maimed thousands of our young soldiers and killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, all at a cost of more than $400 billion. And now there is a simmering civil war situation. * Every day we hear about torture, spying, invasion of privacy, and secret plans for detention. Five of the ten articles of the Bill of Rights protect the individual from abuses by law enforcement; this administration has violated all of them. * Recently the South Dakota legislature voted to outlaw abortion, even in the case of rape and incest. Bush's Roberts-Alito Supreme Court will hear this case when it comes up. I'm generally not an alarmist. But we've entered a whole new political reality. In several decades of working in politics and media, I have never felt this angry, frightened or radical. We can no longer just do what we have been doing. So many people tell me they feel angry and depressed. And that makes sense. Today's politics can be bewildering, and shocking. But we must fight the depression! We must remind ourselves how important and necessary our vision is for the future we want for our country, our communities, and our families. We forget sometimes that that the values we treasure -- equality, fairness, justice, dignity, and ultimately kindness and love -- inspired the greatest moral and political achievements of the 20th century: the civil rights movement, equal rights for women, the right to organize, and the growth of environmentalism. These values make our society strong and appealing to the rest of the world. They are what we are fighting for. So, let me get down to the basics. AlterNet plays a key role in keeping us connected, providing vital information, letting people know what others are doing. We provide vision and ideas for a brighter future along with the latest horror stories about the radical right, and political corruption. We are part of the early warning system. People write us every day and tell us how much they depend on us. We need your commitment. We need your investment to keep us strong as we compete against the special interests that are feeding at the trough of Republican corruption. Donate Now! Please make a contribution so we can continue our work -- and then double it. And do the same for all the important groups you fund, especially those working at the grassroots. They need it the most. This letter is a kick-off to AlterNet's fundraising for 2006. Normally I would tell you about our accomplishments and awards, our new features, our talented staff and our deep dedication. And that's all good stuff. But I'll save that. (View a full report on AlterNet's achievements, goals and vision.) Bottom line: We need to raise $200,000 from our readers and community in the months ahead. And we want as many of you to help as possible. Whatever you can afford, be it $30 or $500. It all matters. Help AlterNet serve you and the rest of the people who depend upon us. With appreciation, Don Hazen Executive Editor, AlterNet P.S. Please, have a heart-to-heart with yourself and take a stand on what you truly believe. Make a commitment to join us in fighting back. Draw a line in the sand and say: Enough! Donate Now!

Limited or No Connectivity!

For those of you out there who think I'm not going to be posting as much, don't worry. It's been a rough week or two. I'm back in the saddle. Anyway... Just bought a new laptop, got it home, and it won't connect to my wireless network. Sigh. Stuff like this is why I'm moving to Linux with one of my computers. Windows sucks. Eventually, when I know what I'm doing, I'll have Linux on all of my computers. Any of my readers know much about Linux? If so, leave a comment or email me at m@townofautumn.com . I could use a little help...! :-) On a more positive note; I found a cool website for all you book lovers the other day: Library Thing. You can easily catalog your books online, or just keep a reading list. You can find others with the same books as you, arrange your books graphically on a virtual shelf, and much more. Check it out! Oh, and check out their buzz page, too. If you sign up, be sure to leave a comment below with your user ID. Mine is 'martian'. I've only catalogued one book so far, but I'll be adding more in the next few days.

High School Teacher Jay Bennish Placed On Leave For Speaking the Truth.

You've no doubt noticed I haven't posted for a week. It's been a hectic one. But back to blogging... You probably have heard about Denver Colorado high school teacher Jay Bennish. The day after President Bush's "State of the Union" address, Mr. Bennish made a few statements to his geography class:

"“Sounds a lot like the things that Adolf Hitler used to say: We're the only ones who are right, everyone else is backward, and our job is to conquer the world..."”

Then he concluded:

"“I'’m not implying in any way you should agree with me… What I'm trying to do is to get you to… think about these issues more in depth."

For that, he was placed on unpaid leave. Yes, for gosh sakes, let's not have high school kids thinking for themselves. The only appropriate way to talk to a high-schooler is to brainwash them into believing that the United States is always right, that our way of life is best, and that everyone is inferior to us. We are moving closer and closer to 1984. When a high school teacher can't even lecture his students, and even concludes with saying you don't have to agree with me, I just want to get you to think about the issues -- when he is punished for that -- then we must conclude that George Orwell was indeed predicting the future. He was just off a bit on the date.

The Troops Don't Agree With Bush.

A new CBS poll:

President George W. Bush has repeatedly argued that a premature withdrawal from Iraq would dishonour the US troops who have died in Iraq. But a rare opinion poll of US military personnel in Iraq released on Tuesday suggested that only a quarter of US troops agreed with their commander-in-chief.

The troops aren't the only ones who disagree with the President:

The Zogby International/Le Moyne College poll --– the first attempt to gauge the opinion of US soldiers serving in Iraq -- – coincided with a separate CBS news poll which found that only 36 per cent of the US public believes things are going well in Iraq.

So the majority opinion now is that we shouldn't be there, and that we've screwed the whole thing up. Well, I'm proud to say that I have had that opinion since before the invasion. Yes, I was country... er, I mean, I was against the Iraq War when being against the Iraq War wasn't cool.