Political

[jrising]

These are on my mind, so I thought I'd pass them along.

Anyone want to take to the streets over the newest disregard of our civil liberties? Bush's new law revokes the right of terrorist suspects to challenge their imprisonment, so we'll never hear the heart-rending human interest stories that usually motivate us to protest. As best I understand it, suspects and interrogators will answer to a military commission, whose rules will be set wholely by the Bush administration. Protecting basic rights may be awfully inconvenient for the government, but they're there for when that's all we have. I recently heard of a bumper sticker: "The Democrats think the glass is half empty; The Republicans think the glass is theirs."

Wonkette and conspiracy theorists everywhere are having a field day with Bush's recent acquisition of 100,000 acres in Paraguay, and what it might have to do with recent secret meetings, and the nearby, previously-secret military base that was granted national and international criminal court immunity by the Paraguay senate. The going theory is that it's a Bush family safe-haven for when the US government collapses.

Election day is coming up, followed by Election night, and for those of you not participating in a votergasm.org-style orgy, I want to hold a Election Night Nail-Biting Party. Details later.

And my crimson shag rug arrived today. I feel like I have a real bachelor pad now.

Comments

[richenza.livejournal.com]

And my crimson shag rug arrived today

I might be forced to protest your rug.

We could certianly field trip to DC to riot in the streets, but it seems sort of superfluous to riot in downtown Boston (where better than 80% of people are already horrified.) Of course, there are riots in my neighborhood whenever the Socks lose to the Yankees, so I guess some forms of civil disobedience never get old. It might be refreshing to be part of a riot that had a point...

[jrising.livejournal.com]

I might be forced to protest your rug.

You're just jealous.

As for a riot, do you know of any good ones happening for this? I'm glad you think people are already outraged, because I hadn't heard much, and that worried me (though not as much as the legislation).

[http://users.livejournal.com/little_e_/]

Why would they want to retire in Paraguay? I mean, wouldn't Switzerland be better? It seems like Paraguay would be better for building an immense prison.

[conana.livejournal.com]

I imagine the dollar goes farther in Paraguay, and you get more servile labor on your big estate. Though the prison is also plausable.

[http://users.livejournal.com/little_e_/]

Yeah, but you're stil in Paraguay. I mean, I haven't heard of any rich billionares retiring there lately, but I could just be out of the loop.

You could just ship the Paraguans to Switzerland and enjoy the skiing...

[jrising.livejournal.com]

Well, not actually a prison, right. A work camp.

[conana.livejournal.com]

As I said a couple of days ago, I'm not convinced that protesting actually affects the government right now. I'm a fan of big protests as a way of reminding eachother that were not the only ones upset, but I'm not convinced that's the issue. Do we know what the demographics are? Does condemning torture lose you votes in the midwest or something?

[jrising.livejournal.com]

I agree that we should consider protest to be more for ourselves than for our goals, but I think that's plenty important. But I expect that there's a breaking point somewhere, when the boiling discontent overflows, and that kind of "outside the system" demand for change can have effects that more sensible avenues won't. And I think we're far better off if we take every opportunity to ask, "Is this the moment?" than if we wait until the moment forces itself upon us. It's like microscopic impurities which act as locuses of crystallization: the liquid (societal discontent) is going to look the same whether or not it's super-saturated, and (to drop my metaphor) it's not unless we ask the question, by proposing the protest, that we can get a response.