Fuck pinching pennies while poverty reigns supreme!

Americans need to stop thinking of our government as a money making entity, like a corporation or company of some sort. The United States of America does not have to answer to shareholders or an investor’s board. America does not need to show a profit on it’s financial reports or guarantee dividends to anyone on a quarterly basis. In case everyone has forgotten, the sole purpose of a government is to protect the welfare of it’s citizenry. So, in these financially fucked times, the government should be expected to address the needs of the American people and maintain a standard of living in this nation that we can be proud of. We should not be concerned with whether or not they spend a shit load of money in this stimulus package (or in the following packages that will inevitably come) because that is what the fuck the money is in their hands for. Taxes are collected to service the communal needs of our people & holding back grant money or welfare funds or any other entitlement cash in the name of fiscal responsibility is unacceptable. How can we consider our nation among the greatest in the world when we allow the working class to become paupers & virtual serfs? How can we be proud when we allow our nation’s children to receive sub-standard educations or sit back while our system of higher education becomes the province of the wealthy because average folks can’t afford to continue their schooling? Is this really the “land of the free & the home of the brave” if we allow the wealthy few to run cowardly from their social duty crying foul, when they have been sitting pretty for the past eight years, benefitting from Bush’s tax cuts, from no-bid contract deals, from reduced regulation and other such bullshit? I’m sure you can agree that allowing our nation to slip into economic depression and then abandoning the masses in order to protect the wealth of the few is a detestable and shameful course of action. How is the GOP’s stance on the stimulus package any different? With that having been said, I leave you with some thoughts on the subject from some of the planet’s greatest minds:

 

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”  -Mahatma Gandhi

“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish”   -Mother Theresa

“Love conquers all things except poverty and a toothache.”   -Mae West

“In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.”    -Confucius

“The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.”    -G.K. Chesterton

“I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.”  - Robert Kennedy

“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.”  -Aesop

“Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.”   - Edward R. Murrow

“Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially for the lower classes of people, are so extremely wise and useful that to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.”  - John Adams

“States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.”  -Noam Chomsky

 

Election ‘08: What’s on the ballot? Part II

Let’s pick up where we left off in reviewing November’s ballot propositions, because the remaining handful of ridiculousness is too entertaining to ignore.

                                                            

Proposition 7: Renewable Energy Generation

Us California citizens tend to be a hop, skip, and a jump ahead of other Americans with regards to environmental matters & green energy policies, but that means very little in the face of impending global climate change. I believe this realization is at the heart of Proposition 7, which would force government-owned utilities to generate 20% of their own power by 2010 (like privately owned electric companies are already required to do), 40% by 2020, and 50% by 2025. Prop 7 also improves the speed at which state permits to build new renewable energy plants are approved. Sounds pretty good, eh? Every rose has it’s thorn, I suppose, because Proposition 7 has it’s fair share of opponents, including California’s Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Bureau, and the Labor Federation; the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, and surprisingly all the major statewide political parties: Green, Libertarian, Democratic, and Republican. Why all the opposition to thinking green with Proposition 7? One argument is that small providers of renewable energy, which currently supply 60% of the state’s mandated enviro-friendly energy, would be shoved out of the market by a “competition elimination” provision in the initiative. Basically, the state would not count any power generated by facilities smaller than 30 megawatts towards the utility company’s mandated renewable energy quota, so why would they even bother buying from the lil’ guys? Another problem dissenters have with Prop 7 is the worrisome 10% cost cap provision that prevents price gouging by privately-owned & investor-owned companies, but does not apply to government-owned utilities. Initially, the cost of generating sufficient solar, water, & wind power will be higher than the costs associated with fossil fuel usage (building facilities & such), so I suppose the state is trying to re-coop the losses by giving themselves free reign on price fixing. But what happens when the price of solar or wind power decreases? Will the state pass the savings on to the consumer? Not likely. Now, Economics is not my strong suit, but as I understand it, Prop 7 would allow certain energy providers associated with the state to set electricity prices, without regard to the actual cost of goods provided, in a state that suffered from rolling blackouts & skyrocketing utility costs as a result of our last great energy plan (what the fuck is a power grid? I still don’t understand that crap.). I’m gonna’ have to side with…well, practically everyone…and oppose Proposition 7. I’m not comfortable with a government re-vamp of energy policy that is hostile to small businesses and California’s consumers so quickly after The Energy Crisis that Sacramento has yet to take responsibility for. After all, PG&E admitted to over-charging Californians for electricity in state hearings without much response or outrage from our legislators & it’s hard to imagine they’d be more pro-active about regulating their own profit margins for our sake.

                                                                     

Proposition 8: Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples To Marry

How anyone can be pro-Prop 8 after reading it’s title aloud is beyond me. It says right there: “Eliminates Right”. California is in a bad way when we start explicitly revoking rights from our citizens. How very un-patriotic. Proposition 8 would amend the state Constitution to specify that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid in California. The initiative is by far the most irrational knee-jerk response-proposition on the ballot, as exhibited by it’s meager three paragraph legislative analysis in the Official Voter’s Guide. Proponents of this gay marriage ban state in the Guide that the issue is about “preserving marriage; it’s not an attack on the gay lifestyle". This should clearly illustrate what type of folks are advocating Prop 8… hate-mongering, fag fearing, gender conformists and religious zealots that haven’t realized how un-Christian exclusion and hate actually are. If we were to define marriage as an institution strictly reserved for one man and one woman, we are gonna’ have a whole lot more defining to do. Who exactly is considered a Woman? What are the qualifications? Correct genitalia? Breasts? Child-bearing capabilities? Is a penis the determining factor for male classification? Or do the balls also count? Since the state Constitution guarantees equity under the law, would a gay marriage ban also eliminate the right of straight couples to marry? The anti-gay crusaders behind Prop 8 also claim the initiative “protects our children from being taught in public schools that ‘same sex marriage’ is the same as traditional marriage”. There are so many things wrong with that statement; I cannot believe I read that shit in the official Argument in Favor. First and foremost, I am sick of these people that mistake California for Texas or South Dakota or some other state in the grasp of Evangelical hysteria. Here in California, we don’t use our state Constitution to label certain residents as second-class citizens. We also don’t aspire to use our educational institutions to promote bigotry and ignorance. Secondly, we don’t cave to panic-stricken moral crusaders in Cali, because unlike states in the Bible Belt, California’s lawmakers do not depend on the religious vote to win elections or the Christian Right to fund campaigns. They have plenty of secular donors and voters to be A-OK without the clergy’s endorsement and are often better off without it. Finally, when proposed legislation is so clearly based on the religious dogma of certain churches (I have yet to hear a secular argument in support of Prop 8. You?), it’s obviously a violation of the separation of church and state that is so important in a free society. That being said, I’d like to ask all of those self-righteous folks that are so concerned with matters like this to move the fuck out of here & quit embarrassing me with your public displays of homophobia. After all, we’ve got a right to protect our children from being taught that state-endorsed inequality is morally sound as long as the person is gay.

                                                                

Proposition 9: Criminal Justice System. Victim’s Rights. Parole.

Here’s another sneaky initiative that seems great & necessary at first glance, but closer inspection leads me to another opinion altogether. Proposition 9 requires notification to victims of crime and grants them opportunity for input during phases of criminal justice proceedings (such as bail, plea, sentencing, and parole hearings) and mandates that they receive a written copy of their rights as victims. Prop 9 also increases the number of people allowed to speak at such hearings on the victim’s behalf, reduces the number of parole hearings that prisoners are entitled to, and establishes victim safety as a consideration in determining bail or release on parole. Under current law, victim’s rights are laid out in the state’s Constitution, the Victims of Crime Resource Center is funded with tax dollars so that the information is available to those that need it, victims have the right to know about & participate in parole hearings and sentencing, and our parole system is already one of the most strict in the nation. Proposition 9 seems like it was drafted by someone unfamiliar with the current criminal justice system. After reading the literature on both sides of the fence (in print & online), I can’t see why Proposition 9 is necessary.

Proposition 10: Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy

This one allows the state to issue$5 billion in GO bonds for various renewable energy, alternative fuel, energy efficiency, and air emissions reduction purposes. The bond money will provide $3.4 billion for financial incentives to purchase or lease high fuel economy vehicles and dedicated clean alternative fuel vehicles (primarily rebates for trucks and other medium- and heavy-duty vehicles) and $1.6 billion to fund research, design, development, and deployment of renewable electricity generating technology. These bonds will cost the state about $10 billion in principal & interest payments over the next 30 years, plus an additional $10 million per year (for the next 10 years) to operate Prop 10 programs. Since I don’t make nearly enough scratch to purchase a new hybrid or fuel efficient pickup truck and the masses statewide are in a bleak financial state, I’m not sure it’s the time to waste cash on convincing well-to-do car buyers that they should go green. Give them a tax credit on their state income tax returns instead of taking out loans that cost taxpayers billions in interest.

                                                    

Proposition 11: Redistricting

Gerrymandering is the dirty little secret that all incumbent politicians want us to ignore and as long as they get to preside over redistricting every 10 years without any public scrutiny or independent oversight, we might ignore their naughty ways for many years to come. You see, every decade a census is taken and political districts are reorganized to compensate for changes in the size of the population. In the House of Representatives, the state Legislature, and the State Board of Equalization, representation is based on population size. More people = more representatives. Politicians intent on keeping their jobs are in charge of drawing up these new districts & it’s not uncommon for them to create custom made voter support by drawing their districts in a way that includes lots of their supportive and excludes people likely to oppose their future campaigns. Prop 11 tries to rectify this conflict of interest by establishing an independent panel, the Citizens Redistricting Commission, to draft redistricting plans. To be a commissioner on this panel, you can’t have been a candidate for federal or state office, you can’t have worked as a lobbyist, and you can’t have made a political donation of $2000 or more in a single year to any political candidate. Prop 11 also sets forth rules about dividing cities, counties, and neighborhoods into multiple districts; mandates the preservation of geographically compact districts (rather than those illustrated below); and forces the Commission’s proposal to be presented to the public in the form of open hearings where public comment will be accepted. This initiative is a long time coming, people. Seems dull & unimportant, but if you ever wondered why shitty politicians that do nothing for their constituents always seem to retain their seats for eons, now you know. Vote Hells Yes on Prop 11.

                                       

Proposition 12: Veteran’s Bond of 2008

This bond will be $900 million to provide loans to California’s veterans for the purchase of farms or homes. It will cost about $1.8 billion to pay off the principal and interest over a period of 30 years. The current veteran’s assistance organization, Cal-Vet, is financially sustained by the veteran’s that participate in the program without a cent of tax payers money going into their coffers. This loan will be paid back by these same vets, but if their payments can’t cover the $59 million per year payments, the state will assume the remaining debt. This is kinda’ a duh proposition. Vets deserve to have a little TLC from the government they fought for. Apparently, our elected officials agree because no one in either the State Senate or the Assembly cast a “No” vote for Proposition 12. I’m not about to be the dickhead that does! Yes on 12!

 

So there we have it! Those are the Propositions your deciding on come November, so start forming an opinion one way or another. Complacency is unoriginal and boring, so step up your game a little & think about what’s going on. Next time, we’ll address the candidates running for local office… I’m thinking about donning a trench coat & disguise mustache, so I can avoid detection when tailing Stockton’s mayoral candidates. Until then, dah-lings!

                                                                       

Election ‘08:What’s on the ballot? Part 1

Y’all should be getting those Voter Information Guides in the mail that detail the various propositions you will be judging come November. Not exactly a page-turner, I know, but the shit is relatively important. As always, I feel it’s my duty to speak on it with another installment of Ms Maryjane Foxie’s Voting Guide 2008. Feel free to comment or debate my take on things, darlings, because to be completely honest, I don’t know shit. I’m just really good at forming opinions on things. Without further ado, let us talk ballot propositions!

Proposition 1: High Speed Rail Bond

This initiative attempts to fund the construction of a high speed railroad between San Francisco and Los Angeles to the tune of $9.95 billion in bonds ($9 billion for the high speed rail & the remaining $950 million to improve existing public transit systems throughout the state). Interest on these bonds is expected to be around $9.5 billion, making the suggested annual repayment of the bonds $647 million per year for the next 30 years. At first glance, it is easy to see why some legislators are weary about funding such a project. After all, California is in a sorry financial state and taking out such a tremendous loan seems a bit fool hardy. BUT, if one considers the jobs created by the railway’s construction and operation AND the environmental benefits of improved statewide public transit, Proposition 1 starts to look a whole lot better. Personally, I would totally prefer to make the trip from SF to LA by rail instead of driving the entire cursed route. At this point, I’m all for Proposition 1.

Proposition 2: Standards for Confining Farm Animals

Excluding rodeos, fairs, 4-H programs, veterinary transport, and a few select instances, Proposition 2 would require that calves bred for veal, egg-laying chickens, and pregnant pigs be confined in spaces large enough to allow the animal to stand, lie down, turn around, and extend their limbs fully. The penalty for ignoring these standards would be a misdemeanor fine or 180 days in jail. Prop 2 is supported by the Humane Society (duh) and the Center for Food Safety (makes you think?). The opposition insists that such standards will increase the risk of avian flu (I don’t follow their argument) and salmonella (since consumers will supposedly be forced to buy cheaper Mexican imports that apparently carry the food-bourne illness). This one is pretty cut & dry for me. I am disgusted by how our current system, lead by mega agribusiness interests not actually farmers like Old MacDonald, treats the animals that end up on my dinner plate. If I had more will power (and money), I’d go veggie. Until then, I’ll just have to insist that folks cough up the extra dinar for larger animal confinements, so that my conscious can remain relatively clear.

Proposition 3: Children’s Hospital Bond Act

Who can reject funding for sick children? I’m not even that callous! Prop 3 authorizes the sale of $980 million in bonds (80% for kids hospitals & 20% for U of C hospitals). The bonds are expected to generate $933 million in interest payments & will cost about $64 million annually for the next 30 years.

Proposition 4: Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of a Minor’s Pregnancy

It’s baaaack, Parental notification is being sold to Californian’s that have already rejected the concept in the past three (or four?) elections. Prop 4 would prohibit underage girls from obtaining abortion procedures before a 48 hour waiting period and notification of their intent to their parentals. The initiative allows for judicial bypass, meaning a minor can approach a judge & plead her case with the hopes that said judge sees “clear and convincing evidence of minor’s maturity”. Physicians would be required to file reports on the abortions preformed on teenaged women and would face stiff penalties for noncompliance. I’ve argued against this same fucking idea in every Voting Guide, so allow me to re-cap the main ideas & move on. First, the state should not be responsible for raising our kids. They do not need to play gate-keeper to medical services. That is a parent’s job. Second, a government that is hostile to the reproductive rights of all women (as ours very much is) should not be compiling these types of records on young women.Is it really difficult to imagine this information being used against the very women Prop 4 claims to protect? The abortion you had at the reckless age of 17 bites you in the ass years later when the factoid is discovered during a routine pre-employment background/credit check. Forget about holding public office, because some “family values” politician will inevitably label you a baby-killer with public records to prove it! Is this really that hard to imagine? Third, a “waiting period” is the most condescending fucking bullshit ever. The idea is that this 48-hour waiting period is to be used to reflect on the gravity of their decision, think it over, make sure this is what you want to do. I have little doubt that most women seeking to terminate their pregnancies have thought the matter through to their satisfaction before heading to the clinic AND time is pretty critical in such situations, so forcing a state-mandated “time-out” seems like shitty idea. Fourth, the “judicial review” process that would allow teens to petition a juvenile court for a wavier of the notification and/or waiting period is bullshit. A preggo teen has to file a claim, go to court, spill her guts to a judge,who then decides whether this young woman is “mature enough”, then (if successful) seek out medical attention. Think about you at age 16. There’s a PP commercial that illustrates this well. Fifth, we’ve voted the same crap down in waaaay too many consecutive elections! This is fucking ridiculous! Fuck Prop 4, or whatever they want to call it these days.

Proposition 5: Nonviolent Drug Offenses. Sentencing. Parole and Rehabilitation.

I am at odds about the whole substance abuse program vs. jail time policy. On one hand, nonviolent drug offenses do not warrant years of incarceration as penance. It’s cruel, costly, and unjust. Rehab gets folks out of jail & that is fucking great for everyone involved. On the other hand, it’s not the government’s responsibility to dictate when and how a person gets sober. That’s a personal thing. These programs should be available, heavily funded, and viable but not force fed. Besides, it just doesn’t work, as far as reducing drug & alcohol abuse is concerned. Anyhow, Prop 5 allows for $460 million annually to go to treatment programs. It eliminates jail sentences for certain drug crimes, parole violations, and failed rehab stints. Parole terms would be shortened for offenders having been convicted of nonviolent drug offenses or property crime, as long as the offender did not have a serious, violent, street gang-related, or sex crime on their record and lengthened for sex offenders and violent felons. Prop 5 also seeks to clear up eligibility standards by implementing a new three tiered system (there’s a nifty chart in the guide) of guidelines. I’m pro-Prop 5, I guess, since keeping folks outta’ jail is a more pressing matter than the right to get fucked up.

Proposition 6: Police and Law Enforcement Funding.

I swear the police are always bitching about funding! Life in Stockton is a prime example of what happens when law enforcement is financially rewarded for existing, not necessarily policing. Make ‘um hustle a little. If the crime rate is reduced & the citizenry generally approves of their local forces, funding increases to maintain the momentum. If there are noticeable signs of the public good being served, pay up. If not, the Boys in Blue outta’ put their noggins together & figure out what needs to be done. Earn your keep. Plus, I have an intense fear and loathing of police officers. But Prop 6 will pass because everybody loves the illusion of safety!

An Anniversary & What’s Important to Remember

Politicians and news outlets alike will be spewing all kinds of quasi-patriotic & definitely fear-mongery bullshit about terrorists and other bogeymen we should still be afraid of seven years after the attacks of September 11th. What they probably won’t be talking about is the fact that the terrorist organization responsible for the attacks is stronger than ever, due to the unrest we’ve instigated throughout the Middle East. They won’t talk about how 9/11/2001 saved President Bush’s political career and probably secured his second term. They won’t ask why the people responsible for exploiting the tragic events for their own ends (invading Iraq, to be specific) are still not being held accountable. They won’t talk about how ineffective all those cuts to our civil liberties have been, as far as making our nation a safer place. They won’t review the effectiveness of the Patriot Act, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or GITMO, and they certainly won’t raise a critical voice against America’s foreign policy that proves to would-be terrorists just how corrupt and worthy of attack the U.S. is. They won’t ask any of the relevant questions or recall any of the heinous bullshit our government pulled in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. I suppose that remembering those details is up to us. We Will Never Forget, is damned well right.

More Palin-Hatin’

In case you needed more reasons to vote Democratic this November, let’s talk about how ridiculous McCain’s VP, Sarah Palin, actually is. Remember, if the Republican’s manage to retain the President’s seat, this lady will be second in line to rule. The Vice President is sort of a big deal for that reason.

First, the woman is a pawn, a puppet, a fucking ploy. The GOP doesn’t take her seriously, hell, she doesn’t even see herself as a full-fledged politician! This point was illustrated by the fact that her first photo op during the GOP convention wasn’t with her running mate or other major Republican figures, it was with the WIVES. Here she is chillin’ like a villian with Cindy McCain and Laura Bush, as if Palin were merely another would-be First Lady without political power or responsibility. Apparently, the GOP and Palin, herself, sees these political show ponies as her peers.

Second, her political track record, short as it maybe, is full of fucked up executive decisions that royally screwed Palin’s Alaskan constituents. Her 2008 budget cuts included these gems: cuts to education totaling $396,000 that were intended to repair school busses, replace unsafe sporting equipment, fund after school programs, and elevates children’s asthma; cuts to senior citizen programs totaling $600,000 for housing, repairing senior centers, and upgrading access roads to retirement communities; cuts to health care totaling $4,527,500 that was needed to replace medical equipment and upgrade Ketchikan General Hospital’s surgical wing. Never the less, under Palin government expenditures increased by 63%! Apparently, that $14.7 Million Sports Center in Wasilla was WAY more important than providing for Alaska’s children, their elderly, or their sick.

Third, she is as shady as one would expect a Republican to be, with the ethics violations to prove it! In August of this year, former state House member Andree McLeod filed an ethics complaint against the Alaskan governor that alleges Palin used her position of power to get one of her campaign supporters a Department of Transportation job in Fairbanks. The complaint can be viewed online HERE. In July of 2008, the Alaska State Legislator voted 12-0 to approve $100,000 for a special investigator to begin an investigation into claims Palin fired a former state official because he would not fire a state trooper who was involved in a bitter custody battle with Palin’s sister.

Fourth, America has learned the dangers of electing politicians that reside in the pockets of Big Oil executives. Bush and Cheney illustrate this Worst Case Scenario. Palin is similarly involved with the oil interests that financially rape the American consumer and provoke wars in the Middle East for financial gain. Her 2006 campaign for governor netted her a cool $13,000 from oil lobbyists, even though McCain praised Palin’s supposed fight against such interests. Environmentalists cite her eagerness to embrace expanded offshore oil development, her lawsuit against further protection of polar bears so as not to hinder oil drilling in Alaska's ice-filled waters and her ardent support to allow oil companies into the Alaska wildlife refuge as evidence of her close connections to Big Oil.

There you have it. Hard core hatin’ from the Left, to remind y’all why Palin is soooo super sucky. Obama in ‘08, mother fuckers!

The Race to be Supreme Ruler of Crapsville

Why aren’t folks talking about Stockton, California’s upcoming mayoral race? Not even our local newspaper has said jack about Ann Johnston vs. Clem Lee since at least June! WTF? Never fear, Stockton, your bitchy neighborhood feminist is back with a little political punditry for the masses!

Before we even get to talking about the candidates for Top Dog of City Hall, let’s establish a few major concerns that the next mayor should be expected to address. I am sure you will agree to their importance.

1. Jobs. We need jobs. Real jobs. Our young men all suffer from the same I Want To Be A Drug Dealer fantasy until their early twenties because it is honestly the most viable option for financial stability ‘round here! Shit is so bad on the legit employment front, that when local boys fill out job applications they list hustlin’ as a relevant skill, The School of Hard Knocks as educational background, and “Pimpin’ ain't easy” as a reason for leaving their previous employment. We don’t need another fast food joint that will employ eleven or twelve residents part-time on minimum wage or another addition to the corporate restaurant boulevard along Pacific Avenue that will do the same. We need real industry, real employment prospects, and a real living wage!

2. Crime. I don’t buy the Party Line that more police officers & a bigger jail facility will solve the problem. Shit, I’m more afraid of SPD than any of the gang bangers I’ve come across and I have no idea how a bigger jail is supposed to deter criminal behavior. We need to restore the public’s faith in our law enforcement personnel and, honestly, I’m not sure what could get me to re-think my attitudes towards our Boys in Blue. They gun down residents without repercussions (or even adequate explanations) so often that any native Stocktonian would agree that “SPD don’t fuck around”. They show up twenty deep to house parties, are always timely when a noise disturbance is reported, and have been known to kick asses from Louis Park to Oakie-ville without batting an eyelash. Stockton has a violent crime problem and it is not entirely due to gang activity. After all, poverty and high crime rates are the Siamese twins of public policy; where there is one, there is inevitably the other & separation of the two issues is damned near impossible! We need to start looking at our crime problem with honest eyes and develop rational strategies to combat it, instead of behaving like having California’s highest violent crime rate is an unavoidable phenomena that is out of our hands.

3. The Budget Has to Serve the NEEDS of the Community! I think it’s cool that Downtown doesn’t look like Skid Row anymore and I’ve enjoyed my fair share of hockey & soccer games at the Arena, but I can’t justify the exorbitant costs of Downtown Revitalization being covered at the expense of our libraries, our social services, and our environmental responsibilities! City Council has thrown our money around and made piss-poor investments whenever possible; it’s like an alcoholic transient in pee-stained clothes living under the freeway in a cardboard box…but his box is decked out with a Wii and surround sound speakers. Seems like there are some major essentials being looked over, y’know? We need to fund our emergency shelters and low-income assistance programs, so that they can serve as stepping stones to a more stable future for city residents. We need to reward locally-based entrepreneurs for giving the city it’s rare glimpses of culture (where is the subsidy package for Stockton Joe’s? Or the TOB? Xochimilco’s?)! Our hometown businesses deserve to be propped up by the City, rather than beaten down by the current hostile permit & taxation policies that ensure only the Strongest Corporate Entities survive. We need low-income health options besides the County Hospital’s emergency room! We need to remember how broke most of us are & allocate funds accordingly. Our city coffers need to be at the disposal of Stockton’s residents, not it’s (Favorite Son) investors.

4. Address the Environmental Disaster that is the Valley! The air tastes terrible (go out of town for a few days & when you come home, you’ll know exactly what I mean). The water quality is pretty fucking scary (Arsenic! Selenium! Uranium! And enough Copper to line our intestines for decades to come!). The Delta’s eco-system is on it’s last legs, but it’s death rattle is virtually ignored. Huge sections of the world’s best farm land continue to be gobbled up by the Axis of Assholes (Spanos, Grupe, the Stone Brothers), then regurgitated along the city’s boarders as shitty housing developments that no one here can afford and no one else wants. We can fix our troubled streets, our economic crisis, and our community safety net, but if our environment remains a secondary concern, none of it will matter. If given a choice, who would want to live in a place with air that tastes like week old cigarette butts on it’s best days?

5. Knock Some Smarts into Us! Please? If we are going to spend money, we really outta’ allocate a good chunk of change to improve literacy in these parts. Proof that our local governing body gives a shit less about the illiteracy rates of this sad city is the damned coffee shop some idiot installed in the Adult non-fiction section of the Chavez Central Library. WTF? Of all the stupid places to stick a cafe… Now kids run ramped through the historical biographies like it’s a McDonald’s fucking Playland, while Mommy or Daddy enjoys a leisurely latte at a table next to the new release periodicals & I pull the hair out of my scalp strand by strand in an effort to refrain from throttling the little bastards. No joke.

Before I lose it & hop on the first Amtrak outta’ here, I’d better shift my focus to the candidates and their platforms. This way I can pump a little optimism into my thoughts for the city’s future or, at least, have an actual person to direct my anger at!

Ann Johnston has my vote (at this point) because she’s not currently a member of the Worst Case Scenario City Council. On her website she names her top Mayoral goals as:

* ridding the city of criminal activity, gangs, and neighborhood blight 

* finishing the downtown/waterfront redevelopment

* bringing in new business with high paying jobs and good benefits

Ridding the city of criminal behavior seems like quite a lofty goal, but I like the Can-Do Attitude she has with regards to the crime issue. She lists some strategic ideas for kickin’ crime in the tail, such as: enforcing truancy & curfew laws, creating Neighborhood Councils, and holding police District Commanders accountable for the crime rates of their districts (which is a fucking brilliant idea! Imagine that! Police Accountability! In Stockton!). She also suggests building relationships between schools and the business community,which I found to be a very fresh & interesting idea. “Smart Growth” is another aspect of Johnston’s platform that I can get behind wholeheartedly (see #4, listed above).

When assessing a candidate for political office, one of the smartest things you can do is peep their endorsements. Knowing who is backing their bid for power can tell you a lot about their motives & true intentions. Johnston’s long list of supporters (from her website, once again) doesn’t give me any cause for alarm. The local Teamsters, Operating Engineers, Longshoreman, City Employee, and Plumber’s Unions are all on her side. The Campaign for Common Ground (a local environ-friendly organization), The Sierra Club (the local chapter of the national environ-goodies), Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (saintly people), SJ & Calaveras County’s labor councils, and The Central Valley Stonewall Democratic Club (local lefties representing the LGBT community) are also on board with Ann. The feminist and the gay endorsement? Sounds like my kinda’ lady.

Opposing Johnston in November’s election, is current City Councilman Clem Lee. Full Disclosure: My sister & I both voted for him at least once, based entirely on his name recognition. Now, I see the error of my ways! Right off, Clem Lee’s website annoyed the shit out of me. The homepage is littered with that gossipy negative campaigning bullshit that sours me on political discussion (my opponent did such-and-such, so I deserve your vote! Whaaaaa…Cry baby bullshit). His biography reminds us of his life-long residency (which makes me wonder how he has been so blind to Stockton’s best interests while on the Council. I’m half his age & can’t help but see the shit) and proves his heterosexuality by bringing up his 17 year marriage and 14 year old offspring. No pictures though. No platform information either. Nothing but some garbage vague statement about raising Stockton to new heights based on a vision, or some shit. Lee should probably cruise by Johnston’s site & see how it’s done. Johnston is even rockin’ a MySpace, while Clem Lee’s homepage hasn’t even been updated since May! However are we expected to make an informed decision in such an important political contest, if Lee doesn’t bother to let us know WHY we should give him our vote? I guess he’s banking on that whole name recognition strategy panning out again. The McCormick Girls won’t fall for that shit this time!

Frontin’ for all y’all

* On the Presidential Election front: Gallup has Obama with a sparse lead in the polls (45% to McCain’s 44%), Rasmussen has a 47% Obama lead vs. McCain’s 46%, the Washington Post is showing a 49% Barack lead against John’s 46%, and the Associated Press is giving Obama 47% and McCain a mere 41% of the voting populace. In other words, however you slice it Barack Obama is ahead, but not by much. Hillary finally started speaking out in support of Obama at a Nevada campaign stop yesterday, where she reminded folks that her supporters have much more in common with Barack Obama than they ever will with John McCain. Thank you for stating the fucking obvious, Mrs. Clinton. Aside from the polls & Hillary, I’ve done my best to avoid the intense day-to-day news coverage of the election, because the mainstream media seems hell bent on telling me how I feel about things, how I intend to vote in November, and pretty much avoiding any relevant news on the subject. So, Fuck ‘um.

* On the Wars We Didn’t Start front: I’ve been a bit confused about the Russia-Georgia conflict, so I assume some of you are too. After looking into the matter, I came up with this: Georgia is a former Soviet republic that flew the coop after the fall of communism in the region (1991). The small nation is a bit of a thorn in Russia’s side, since it has expressed desire to join NATO and is allied with the Western nations that are often in opposition to Moscow. A Georgian provence that boarders Russia, South Ossetia, has had a level of semi-independence for the past 16 years, but according to Georgian officials, separatists have increased their attacks recently and prompted a response from Georgia, which sent in tanks. Russian officials claimed Russian peacekeepers were killed by their forces & that the Georgian military was ethnically cleansing the region of native Russians, so they too sent in tanks. As of this morning, Russia claims to have halted all military action in the Georgian provence, but reports of Russian bombing are still coming out of the region. In summary, Georgia used to be under Russia’s control, until they said Fuck That in ‘91. Then, a piece of Georgian territory attempted to do the same thing & assert their independence, only to be given a military bitch slap from the former freedom fighters of Georgia. Russia tried to intervene & hoped to regain some control over the area, but punked out when the world started paying too much attention. I hope that clears things up for y'all.

* On the Olympic Games front: Swimmer Michael Phelps nabbed the gold in two events so far, swimmer Aaron Piersol got us another, swimmer Natalie Coughlin got us a gold for the ladies, and the entire U.S. men’s relay team (which included Phelps) won yet another. Mariel Zagunis won a gold in women’s fencing and Walton Eller won one in men’s shooting. Only China & it’s home team advantage have earned more golds than we have at this point. Upcoming events of interest include today’s first U.S. women’s football/soccer match vs. New Zealand, today’s men’s preliminary basketball game vs. Angola, Friday’s women’s preliminary basketball game against Spain, and Wednesday’s men’s football/soccer match against Nigeria. Go Team Go.

Tequila is like kryptonite to Ms Maryjane Foxie

For whatever reason, I conveniently forget this fact when presented with an opportunity to drink the devil booze. I then re-learn the lesson, without fail, by the end of the evening. Yesterday’s foray into Drunk-ville ended quite early, since my alcohol consumption started earlier than usual, and the homies were left to fend for themselves while I got reacquainted with my toilet bowl. My bad.

Now that I’ve regained consciousness, I’m ready to start the day’s complaints with a new found sense of irritation.

* According to the New York Times article HERE, American hospitals nationwide have been snitching to the INS about injured or ill illegal immigrants seeking medical care. Since they lack insurance & most nursing homes won’t accept these patients, the hospitals will assist in their deportation to avoid the financial responsibility of treating them. I can’t help but think how fucked up it would be to get hurt or sick and seek treatment, only to be deported by people uninvolved with immigration matters. That would be like catching an STD and when you went to the clinic, your ass got fired from your job. Unrelated & unnecessary double Fuck You’s for folks already in a screwed up position.

* The House of Representatives passed the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would require employers to disclose employee salaries so that women will know sooner if they are being paid less for equal work. This Act was written in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear. The Ledbetter ruling stated that employees have to file discrimination charges within 180 days of the initial unlawful employment practice, meaning a female employee getting shitty wages must sue within 180 days of her first unequal paycheck…even if she isn’t aware of what her contemporaries are making. You have to sue before you know your being screwed? Sounds fucked, huh? The Paycheck Fairness Act intends on rectifying the problem, but Bush has vowed to veto the legislation if it makes it through the Senate. What a dick…

* This headline made me puke in my mouth: “More Rapes Linked To Young Women on Drinking Binges”. WHAT!?! Obviously, the editors of San Diego News don’t realize that rapists commit sexual assault, therefore are at fault, and the alcohol consumption of their victims doesn’t change that fact. Women have a right to exist in the public sphere, intoxicated or not, without being subjected to sexual violence. Our police forces are supposed to protect the community, drunk or not, and arrest the rapists without blaming the victimized women in the media. This isn’t 1956, after all.

Valley folk handle the business!

As you may have guessed, I totally appreciate grassroots activism and rebellion. I do not appreciate my local government’s ignorance to the community’s well-being, so when people from ‘round these parts go up against the powers that be I am in hog heaven! Some recent examples of regional muckraking are as follows:

• Books Not Bars, an activist group dedicated to the demise of California’s Division of Juvenile Justice, rallied outside the site of the former DeWitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton on Thursday. The group of protesters were turned away from the facility’s main gates by correctional workers, but they continued the rally directly across the street in a field. Books Not Bars advocates youth rehabilitation, as opposed to the current system of incarceration. I am in full agreement. It seems awfully fucked up that juvenile offenders are locked up in our already bloated prison system when unemployment rates, homelessness, inadequate educational systems, and poverty have more than a little to do with their criminal activity at such a young age. If they aren’t old enough to vote, to drink, to give consent, then I don’t think they are old enough to serve hard time.
• Union employees gathered outside the Stockton Caltrans building on Thursday to protest Governor Schwarzenegger's executive order to slash their pay to the federal minimum wage ($6.55/ hour). The idea behind the Gobonator’s order is that pay cuts (& elimination of scores of part-time positions) would save the state $1 billion and ease the financial difficulties (a $15.2 billion deficit, to be specific) projected in the upcoming fiscal year. Unfortunately, I doubt Arnold took into consideration the cost of living in California. Nobody can survive on $6.55 here, that’s why our minimum wage is $8.00/hour. Why not freeze the pay of elected officials & state judges (who are usually upper-middle class folk that can manage on a temporary wage cut)? Or repeal the retarded block on taxation increases brought on by Proposition 13? Of course, the state wouldn’t be entirely fucked if it just carried the deficit into the next few years, but Arnold’s up for re-election & that type of financial crisis isn’t good for his image, I suppose. Never the less, state workers do not deserve to carry the financial faux pas of Sacramento’s politicians on their backs.
• The California Black-Brown Summit on Re-Entry and Recidivism starts tomorrow in Stockton and will address the fact that black and Hispanic prisoners make up 67% of California’s prison population. Workshops will focus on education, housing, gangs, and employment. Groups such as Homeward Bound (executioners of a prisoner re-entry program), the NAACP, and the League of United Latin American Citizens organized the two-day event at UOP’s Grace Covell Hall. Here’s to citizens actively addressing crime and interracial cooperation in the San Joaquin Valley! Good work, y’all.

Impeachment isn’t a fruity dessert

It’s more like the Just Desserts that Americans have been waiting to serve Dubya since his punk-ass assented to the throne & started shitting all over our country…

Earlier today, House Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and other supportive Reps presented to the Judiciary Committee the case for the impeachment of George W. Bush! It’s only a hearing to discuss the possibility of bringing impeachment against the President, but it is a start! Kucinich has prepared 35 articles of impeachment for Dubya, but was given the opportunity to discuss only one in today’s hearings: the charge that Bush manipulated intelligence to hoodwink the public and Congress about Iraq's stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. That should be enough, in my opinion. Lying to the American people got Clinton impeached & anyone of us would have lied in his position! How many of you would have the audacity to bullshit the nation into a poorly planned invasion of a sovereign nation, resulting in millions of civilian deaths and thousands of troop casualties? Not I, said the Cat.

Haven’t they heard the phrase “Shit rolls downhill”?

                       

Here’s the problem I’m having with the media’s coverage of our state’s financial woes: California has one of the lowest home ownership rates in the nation & has been criticized for years because a huge cross section of it’s population is doomed to permanently rent their homes. So, when the talking heads on my late night news shows discuss the foreclosure crisis (which has slammed Stockton, CA harder than any other city nationwide with 1 out of every 75 homes being foreclosed on in the month of May 2008), why aren’t they talking about how it is affecting us renters? Kitty-corner from my apartment, a four unit apartment building has just been foreclosed on & the people living there are pretty much up shit creek sans paddle. The property owner is obviously strapped for cash, so I doubt the four families will see their security deposits anytime soon, and the bank that has assumed ownership of the property has kicked out the renters but doesn’t owe them any thirty day notice or financial compensation for their loss, even though none of them are at fault for their eviction. Disposed renters are given only 72 hours to vacate their homes and then they face the task of finding a new rental unit, not to mention coming up with another first month’s rent and security deposit. What are these people supposed to do? They were already renting a low-income apartment, so I doubt that any of them are wealthy enough to up and move at the drop of a hat. What are we, as a community, doing for these people? AND WHY does the mainstream media act like the only people facing economic troubles related to the foreclosure crisis are those folks that defaulted on their loans? What about the renters? People that have been paying their rent, people that have abided by the tenants of their leases, people on Section 8, people already in dire financial straits because of rising gas and food costs, people that don’t have the credit or income necessary to get a fucking loan in the first place are being evicted left & right. Many of these people don’t know that their homes are in the foreclosure process, since the property owner is not required to relinquish this information to their tenants, and then one day…*POOF*… their rights to their place of residence are gone because foreclosing lenders typically evict tenants in order to re-sell the property. Someone that looses the house they bought & live in to foreclosure can rent another house. They already make enough money to qualify for a home loan, so they have the cash needed to rent & property managers don’t give a damn about that aspect of your credit, so they won’t have trouble getting a spot. Renters thrown out because their landlord defaulted on a loan are not in a similar financially secure position. So what if you’ll have trouble getting another home loan ‘cause your credit is fucked? Those renters are having trouble getting another roof over their heads because someone else fucked up! Now that is a situation that deserves some hard-hitting journalistic attention! I’ve scoured the Internet in search of articles, segments, or op-eds on the subject, but it’s slim pickings.

Approximately 1/3 of Americans rent their homes and in California that figure shoots up to 42%. The available evidence suggests that the majority of foreclosed properties are likely to be rentals (or multi-unit dwellings, like duplexes or triplexes), since a property owner isn’t likely to default on their own home loan before the loan they have out on their rental properties.** Estimates for how many renters are being royally screwed by the crisis are inaccurate and incomplete at this point. Experts warn that the current data grossly underestimates the numbers of disposed renters. What figures we do have suggest that as of 2007, 22% of defaulted mortgages in California were on rental properties. In other words, at least 1/4 of the homes lost are those of people that have no part in the whole loan-situation to begin with! And you know that plenty of rentals house more than one tenant (apartment buildings & multi-unit houses, for example), so counting the number of foreclosed rentals doesn’t even begin to show us how many people are being screwed over. Worse still, all those former homeowners are now joining the ranks of the renting class and, according to the laws of supply and demand, are driving up the cost of renting for everybody. U.S. Census Bureau statistics show a 14% jump in the nation’s median asking rate for rentals since 2003 and California is famous for it’s inflated rental rates, so you know it’s worse around here! Woe is the West Coast renter, I suppose.

On July 8th, Governor Swart..z… the fucking Gubernator signed into law Senate Bill 1137, the so-called Perata/Bass Mortgage Relief Bill, which requires tenants to be notified once a bill of sale is issued on the property and, once sold, tenants now have 60 days notice before their eviction…BUT only if the defaulted loan was taken out between January 2003 and December 2007. Now, these innocent parties have two months to pull a shit load of money out of their asses, find a new place in an increasingly cramped rental market, AND prepare to pay more rent each month to boot! Good looking out, California!

Here are a couple Stockton-specific annoyances this subject has planted in my head:

1. Why does the city General Plan include a few more Spanos & Grupe housing developments between now & 2013 if we can’t afford the homes we’ve built thus far? Why are we OK-ing more single family home development if predictions suggest the need for more multi-unit rentals? Shouldn’t a General Plan consider this type of shit? Isn’t that why we make a fucking General Plan? To generally plan for the future’s needs?

2. Why is The Record ignoring the foreclosure crisis as it relates to us renters? Aren’t the editors aware of the fact that many Stocktonians rent? Don’t they have a duty, as our main news outlet, to inform the citizenry of regional disaster like this, rather than use any article on the subject to paint faux-silver linings all over the fucking place? How about giving renters a heads up, in case they didn’t know they should be worried?

3. Where is the federal bailout for the poor victims of this crisis, like Stockton’s needy masses? How does Washington justify multi-million dollar bank bailouts for lenders that profited from the mortgage refinancing schemes and sub-prime loans that caused the crisis, when innocent displaced Stocktonians are too broke to cough up the cash for their security deposits? Why aren’t our tax dollars being used to protect us from poverty? From homelessness? From predatory financial entities bent on profit at any cost?

 

** Also, this assumption was stolen from a 2008 report issued by the  National Low-Income Housing Coalition, located HERE.

Nelson Mandela is a bonafide Bad Ass

The man that brought down South Africa's apartheid turned 90 years old yesterday. In commemoration, I figured I might as well give y’all a primer on Mandela’s OG status, just in case you weren’t up on game.

Way back in the day (say…1948), the Afrikaner National Party gained control of South Africa & implemented a strict segregation policy known as apartheid. The black residents of the country were stripped of their citizenship & classified as citizens of their tribal homelands instead (similar to American Indian tribal governments). They were regulated to economically fucked regions & denied the benefits of South Africa’s thriving economy. They also were denied suffrage outside of their “homelands” & that made the apartheid system nearly set in stone. The only people screwed over by apartheid couldn’t even use the political process to do anything about it! Of course, this shit wasn’t accepted by the black majority of South Africa & immediately after apartheid’s creation, an opposition movement was born. Mandela was at the forefront of the opposition from it’s inception, playing a major part in the creation of the African National Congress (the Afrikaner National Party’s nemesis). Along with his partner Oliver Tambo, Mandela ran a law firm that catered to poor blacks that ordinarily had no access to legal representation. He initially touted the non-violent methods of Gandhi as a means of dismantling apartheid and was arrested in a mass demonstration in 1956 on treason charges with 150 other protesters. The ensuing trial, known as the Treason Trial, lasted for nearly five years & ended in the acquittal of all those involved. The fiasco of the Treason Trials left the ANC in bad shape. Non-violence had proved to be too slow & ineffective, so Mandela co-founded the militant wing of the ANC to force apartheid’s demise. In 1961, he became the leader of this ANC branch, Umkhonto we Sizwe (loosely translated as Spear of the Nation & abbreviated as MK), and he coordinated a sabotage campaign against military and government targets. He trained freedom fighters, established diplomatic ties to other African nations, and prepared for full-on guerilla warfare.

As is usually the case in these stories, the CIA fouled up big. In 1962, they notified S. African officials of Mandela’s whereabouts & the rebel leader was apprehended. He was charged with inciting worker’s to strike & leaving the country illegally, then sentenced to five years in prison. While he was imprisoned, the government arrested ANC members willy-nilly & started to prepare the case intended to dismantle the resistance. What came to be known as the Rivonia Trial was a judicial attack on the ANC that charged Mandela with sabotage & lesser treason. In 1964, all but one ANC leader was found guilty & sentenced to life in prison. Mandela then spent 27 years locked up. He was offered his freedom in exchange for renouncing the struggle against apartheid, but refused. When he finally was released after South Africa’s hard-line president P.W. Botha was replaced in 1989-90 & Mandela immediately returned to work at the ANC. He spearheaded the efforts to have S Africa’s first inter-racial elections between 1990-94 and, unsurprisingly, was elected South Africa’s first black president in 1994.

As if surviving 27 years of prison, a lifetime of apartheid, and countless assassination attempts weren’t enough to prove Mandela’s place in history, the man was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, the Order of Merit & the Order of St. John from Queen Elizabeth, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush, was made an honorary Canadian citizen, received the Bharat Ratna award in India, and the Ataturk Peace Award in Turkey. Musicians have immortalized Mandela in songs such as “Mandela Day” by Simple Minds, “Mandela” by Santana, “Freedom Now” by Tracy Chapman, and “If Everyone Cared” by Nickelback. Stevie Wonder even dedicated “I Just Called to Say I Love You” to Mandela. Fuck, even I have a Nelson Mandela T-shirt (Wiley always said it looked like Sly & The Family Stone, but fuck him)!

In 1999, Mandela retired from political life & took up the duties of being an internationally recognized freedom fighter. He’s supported & advocated for the Make Poverty History campaign, is a big sponsor of the SOS Children’s Villages (an organization for orphaned children), and established the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund that funds various charities dealing with youngsters. He’s served as a spokesperson at the UN & other international organizations for disenfranchised African nations suffering from poverty and the AIDS epidemic. He even used the event of his 90th birthday to call on the world’s wealthy to spread the economic love to po’ folks.

Here’s to a genuine bad ass, Mr Nelson Mandela, for being a die-hard rebel & showing all of us that one person can & does change shit for the better. Get down with your bad self, NM, get down.  

Goodbye, Jesse Helms, and Good Riddance

Former Senator Jesse Helms (R, North Carolina) died yesterday and the nation won't be worse off without him. Helms was as far-right as you get in American politics & his 21 years in the Senate (ending in 2001) were full of completely asinine bullshit that should embarrass anyone identifying as a Republican. Known as Senator No, because he was so fond of opposing Democratic legislation & presidential appointments, Helms wasn't exactly a progressive figure and was considered one of the last Old South politicians in Washington. News outlets are quick to remember the man as a "champion of Conservative values" and a "controversial political figure", but these phrases suggest the guy was a misunderstood political underdog instead of a homophobic, racist, sexist, cold-hearted prick that used his power to fuck over slews of people. The White House called him a "great public servant and a true patriot," but I think it's best if we take a second to recall the "high points" of his political career, before doling out such accolades:

* He was behind the move to stop paying dues to the United Nations in 1994, because the Senator thought the organization was too vocal about U.S. foreign policy. As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he was able to implement anti-UN policies with ease and cut funding to Third World nations by 30%. He refused to ratify the Kyoto treaty, the international land mine treaty, and several other international accords plus he opposed the international criminal court making him a prime example of American isolationism.

* He co-sponsored the Helms-Burton bill that tried to levy U.S. sanctions on non-American companies that did business with Fidel Castro's Cuba & successfully started the current embargo.

* He was the tobacco industry's biggest advocate in Congress (since N. Carolina's agricultural economy is heavily reliant on tobacco production & Big Tobacco kept Helms political coffers full of campaign donations). He chaired the Agriculture Committee & used the position to advance Big Tobacco agendas.

* He opposed the creation of Martin Luther King Jr. day in 1983, citing two associates of King's that had communist ties as a reason. He led the opposition to the bill in Congress & openly dissed the civil rights leader for his alleged infidelity.

* He supported El Salvador's ruthless military leader, Major Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta, who's Death Squads killed thousands of Salvadorians between 1980 & 1985. After evidence that the Death Squads committed thousands of civilian murders became public, Helms said "[a]ll I know, is that D'Aubuisson is a free enterprise man and deeply religious". Helms never revoked his support for D'Aubuisson or condemned his actions.

* He was an ardent supporter of Chile's former dictator, Augusto Pinochet. After visiting Chile in 1986, Helms returned to Washington and assured the American people that it was a "myth that human rights is a major problem in Chile," even though his visit corresponded with one of the grisliest milestones of Chile's struggle against dictatorship, an incident that came to be known as The Burned Ones. A Chilean army squadron had attacked two pro-democracy teens in Santiago with rifle butts, the female teen was sodomized by a soldier, then the pair was doused in gasoline & lit on fire with the help of a Molotov cocktail. One of the kids survived & plenty of witnesses backed up her version of events. Pinochet attempted to pin the fault for the burnings on the teens themselves and the day that he announced his accusations to the nation, he met with Jesse Helms for a two-hour pow-wow. Helms pushed Pinochet's version of what happened whenever possible & berated an American ambassador for attending the murdered teen's funeral. Read more HERE. 

* He supported Haiti's military dictator Raoul Cedras during his bloody reign between 1991 and 1994 & helped to pen the agreement that convinced Cedras to step down in exchange for $1 million in American tax dollars.

* He was a supporter of South Africa's apartheid government & was unsurprisingly one of the biggest segregationists in our own country. Originally a Democrat, Helms abandoned the party with other Dixie-crats over it's support for civil rights legislation. When Nelson Mandela addressed Congress in 1990, Helms stayed away in protest.

* Helms opposed funding AIDS research or treatment programs ever since the idea was first discussed in the Senate. He claimed "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy" (as if that meant that people deserved to die!). He failed to block the 1990 passage of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Care (CARE) act, but tried to block it's refunding in 1995 by once again blaming AIDS patients for their condition. He said their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct" brought on the disease.

* Anti-gay rhetoric was a Jesse Helms specialty & he actually referred to homosexuality as "degenerate" and homosexuals as "weak, morally sick wretches". He opposed Clinton's nomination of Roberta Achtenberg to the Housing & Urban Development department "because she is a damn lesbian".

* Helm's had the balls to make the following comment about President Clinton in 1994 (on the anniversary of JFK's assassination, no less): "[he] better not show up around here [Fort Bragg] without a bodyguard". In his own defense, the Senator insisted that Clinton was too unpopular to inspire an assassination attempt, so the statement shouldn't be considered a threat.

* Introduced the bill that would have eliminated all affirmative action programs because he believed them to be "reverse discrimination at the hands of ruthless bureaucrats."

* He created the North Carolina Congressional Club, a political action committee that quickly became the nation's most successful moneymaking machine, and used the PAC to fund his campaigns. In 1986, the PAC was penalized $10,000 for illegally subsidizing his 1984 re-election campaign. In 1994, the Federal Election Commission levied a fine of $25,000 against Helms & his PAC for accepting $700,000 in illegal contributions. Even more jaw-dropping, in 1992, the Helms campaign and the Congressional Club settled a Justice Department complaint over a pre-election mailing of postcards falsely threatening 125,000 black voters with jail if they went to the polls. Eventually, Helms was forced to cut off ties with the Club after '94, because it endangered his chance at re-election.

* He got into hot water when he offended the shit out of Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, the first African-American woman elected to the Senate, by whistling "Dixie" while standing next to her in an elevator in 1993. He then bragged his aides & staff: "I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing Dixie until she cries."

* Helms would win an election against black opponent Harvey Gantt with an ad playing to racist white fear-- the so-called "white hands" ad, in which a white man's hands crumple a rejected job application while a voiceover intones, "You needed that job…but they had to give it to a minority."

* Helms got away with saying some seriously offensive shit on the Senate floor. According to the late Senator, The University of North Carolina was "the University of Negroes and Communists" and black civil rights activists were "Communists and sex perverts". When 10 female members of the House of Representatives interrupted a Senate committee hearing to demand support for the UN's treaty against gender discrimination, Helms responded by telling them to "act like ladies" & had Capitol police remove them from the hearing. When talking about civil rights protests in 1963, Helms had this to say: "The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights."

* In 1995, Helms was a guest on CNN's Larry King Show & a caller praised Helms for "everything you've done to help keep down the niggers," and the Senator responded with a salute to the camera and saying "Well, thank you, I think."

* He opposed abortion rights and school bussing, funding for art or historical preservation, feminism, communism, and just about any other -ism you'd expect a backwoods redneck to disagree with. Helms supported the flag burning amendment & was all gung-ho on the Terri Schaivo situation, was pro-gun and until public use of the N-word became completely unacceptable, Helms threw the term about willy-nilly.

"I've been portrayed as a caveman by some. That's not true. I'm a conservative progressive, and that means I think all men are equal, be they slants, beaners, or niggers."     -Quoted in the North Carolina Progressive on 2/6/1985

 

"I’m so old-fashioned I believe in horse whipping"    - quoted in The News & Observer from a debate in 1991 about AIDS funding

"To rob the Negro of his reputation of thinking through a problem in his own fashion is about the same as trying to pretend that he doesn't have a natural instinct for rhythm and for singing and dancing." — Helms responding in 1956 to criticism that a fictional black character in his newspaper column was offensive.

                                       

President Bush calls Helms a "great public servant and true patriot", but it seems pretty clear to me that he was a relic of the Cold War era mind set that believed the only "public" worth serving was the Christian, heterosexual, male, white, U.S. natives that agree with American colonialism and cultural hegemony. R.I.P., mother-fucker.

When I was in school, we made friendship bracelets

The scandal-icious story about a supposed “pregnancy pact” between 18 teenaged girls attending Gloucester High School in Massachusetts has been all over the media lately. As you know, the mainstream media is selective about the stories they regurgitate & the chosen few stories they do tell us are usually told to shape public opinion on a specific issue or idea. So, when a story like this is so widely discussed I can’t help but wonder what I’m expected to take from it. Initially, I figured the story was another one of those convenient election year tales of teen girl promiscuity intended to scare the be-jesus out of parents & turn their attentions toward candidates that preach about Family Values and the evils of premarital sex (A.K.A. the politicians that still blame Eve for society’s ills). Upon closer inspection, I sensed the underlying message of the story was that teen pregnancy rates, which had been on the decline for fourteen years prior to Bush’s ascension to the throne, were increasing because pregnancy had gained a sort of “cool” status among underage girls. Instead of blaming the government policies that fund ineffective abstinence-only sex education, at the expense comprehensive sex ed programs that actually work, we were supposed to be pointing the finger at irresponsible teen’s that find procreation “trendy”. Now, I realize that a story about sexually active teen girls can be used as an all-purpose parable to justify any ridiculous assumptions you have about young women, teens, pregnancy, pre-marital sex, etc. etc. etc. For example, TIME magazine ran an article penned by Nancy Gibbs that uses the Gloucester girl’s story to gush about Crisis Pregnancy Centers (or CPCs).

CPCs are notorious for their use of misinformation and intimidation to keep women from seeking abortion services and the scary thing is, they out number actual clinics 2 to 1. They are not usually staffed by medical professionals. They are designed to look like clinics inside (waiting room, white lab coats, etc.), are often located near actual clinics, and use deceptive names to imply that they are full-fledged health care facilities. CPCs do not offer women referrals for abortion services or birth control. They have been known to pull fucked up shit to force women to continue their pregnancies, like extending the waiting period for pregnancy test results so that the women have time to take in all the anti-choice or religious propaganda CPC staffers can throw at them. Flat out lies about emergency contraception are common and women are told ridiculous shit like abortions cause breast cancer & infertility. In a nut shell, Crisis Pregnancy Centers pretend to offer assistance and help to pregnant women, only to confuse, lie, and guilt-trip ladies into adhering to their own moral dogma.

Now, the TIME magazine article suggests that the knocked-up teens of Gloucester were not planning pregnancies as much as they were rejecting abortion. None of the gals in question utilized the services of a CPC, as far as I can tell, but Gibbs uses the final paragraph of her story to bring them up anyhow. She writes:

This has been the mission of the crisis-pregnancy-center movement, the more than 4,000 centers and hotlines and support groups around the country that aim to talk women out of having abortions and offer whatever support they can. If not in Hollywood, then certainly in Gloucester, teen parents and their babies face long odds against success in life. Surely they deserve more sympathy and support than shame and derision, if the trend that they reflect is not a typical teenager's inclination to have sex but rather a willingness to take responsibility for the consequences.

Hmm… because a bunch of under-aged girls trying to get pregnant despite their lack of income, housing, a complete high school education, life experience, or legal sovereignty is CLEARLY a case of being responsible. Clearly.

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood

Or not. Current events aren’t really worth discussing anymore unless they pose a negative threat to our planet’s peaceful existence, right? On that note…

• Zimbabwe is no model of Democratic values. Since 1988, shortly after Zimbabwe gained it’s independence from the UK, Robert Mugabe has served as the country’s president and has benefited from nearly non-existent political opposition. Economic mismanagement, a hard-currency shortage, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a nationwide drought, and prohibitions on foreign aid have left the country in dire straits. This year’s presidential election was expected to be full of drama and challenge Mugabe’s long-held position. So far, Zimbabwe’s election story rivals our own recent presidential elections in it’s treatment of democratic principles. The first round of elections was held on March 29th and it’s candidates were Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (or ZANU-PF), Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (or MDC), and Simba Makoni running as an independent. For nearly a month after the election, it’s results were withheld from the public. This indicated that the MDC had won the popular election, since the ZANU-PF was already in power and had no reason to withhold the results otherwise. A re-do election, or run-off election, was declared when Mugabe & his supporters alleged that MDC-affiliated officials had tampered with the votes. The period between the first and the second round of elections has been marked by political violence on both sides. The second election was held on June 27th, but Tsvangirai formally withdrew from the race, calling it a “violent sham” and claiming that his supporters risked being killed if they voted for him. He cited 86 instances of his political supporters being murdered and the displacement of another 200,000 in the state-sponsored campaign of violence, which has included politically-motivated rapes of MDC supporters. Tsvangirai’s name remained on the ballots, none the less. As expected, the June 27th results were prompted released & they proclaimed Mugabe the winner in a landslide. Now, the African Union is considering what, if any, they should do about the obviously falsified election results. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has even expressed his support for using UN troops to restore peace in Zimbabwe by force. You know it’s serious when a Nobel Peace Prize winner like Tutu calls for a unilateral ass kicking! Zimbabwe reminds me that my home country is not the only politically retarded nation on the planet. Keep your eyes on the Southern region of Africa, Zimbabwe in particular, if you watch current events like other folks watch soap operas (as I do). This season should be interesting.
• South Korea recently repealed it’s ban on American beef imports & it’s an understatement to describe the South Korean population as “pissed”. So far, two separate protests have postponed the lifting of the ban. Critics point out how the ban was intended to protect the people of South Korea and since the U.S. beef industry has yet to make any real changes related to the initial concerns that prompted the ban, lifting it ignores the threat posed to the population’s health. Many people are annoyed with their government’s apparent willingness to cave to the demands of Washington. Today, a reported 13,000 people demonstrated in Seoul during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to the country. It seems to me that the people of South Korea aren’t about to be punked by the American government or it’s over-bearing industries without a fight and I find that commendable. That used to be the American Way. Maybe I outta’ start calling rebellious acts against oppression “the South Korean Way”. Lacks the same ring to it…
• Everybody my age remembers the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. The blackened animals, miles of oil slick along Alaska’s coast, and the environmental damage that can be seen even today. Many of us will be surprised to hear that the Supreme Court has overturned the $2.5 billion in fines that Exxon still owes for the accident, calling them “excessive”. In my opinion, Exxon Mobil’s $40.6 billion in profits during the past year (while I paid out my ass for gas) is excessive. I hate corporate immunity to justice.

Today’s Happenings

** R.I.P. George Carlin. Thanks for all the genius-cloaked-in-humor you dispensed throughout the years.

** Now that Hill’s out of the running, I suppose it’s back to tired & shallow reporting on the feminist front. This op-ed piece on the media’s 180 with regard to female’s in the political realm is thought provoking.

** Pro-lifer’s that fail to live up to their own dogmatic values make me sick. And inspire laughter at their hypocracy. Follow the link HERE & read the story.