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The real state of the union

Enough about the Ramones already.  I just wanted to finish out the week by acknowledging that Glenn Greenwald is entirely right about this, both with regard to Ms. Sheehan herself and with regard to the swarm of vultures that have descended upon her.  (Greenwald’s Update II is particularly pungent, and appropriately so.) He’s also right about this ancillary phenomenon, as well.  In fact, he’s almost always right!  He’s like the anti-Powerline in that respect.  It’s eerie.

Posted by on 02/03 at 05:54 PM

  1. A famous form of Wobbly protest was to get so many people arrested for reading the text of the First Amendment that they’d pack the jails.  The concept of arrest for forbidden T-shirt content seems similar.

    Posted by  on  02/03  at  08:50 PM

  2. The hair trigger sensitivity (and eternal vigilance) necessary to protect Dear Leader’s feewings and sensibiwities fwom being offended continues to astound.  It’s remarkably expensive in an allegedly free country to keep the President in a perpetual Potemkin Village of villagers who love and adore him without question.  It strikes me as a much better idea simply to keep him inside the White House, and save the money compared to setting up these elaborate ruses, such as a dissent free Capitol gallery. 

    Cindy did her job, though: she reminded everyone what the real state of the union is.  Citizens’ rights are trampled upon in the name of not offending Dear Leaders’ sensitivities as Orwellian tactics abound: suspending habeas corpus is “protecting us from terrorists;” unlawful surveillance of political enemies of the President such as Democrats, academics, Quakers, and animal rights activits is “protecting us from terrorists;” not allowing the President to recognize, acknowledge, or even see the existence of dissent is “protecting us from terrorists.”

    It’s not merely the White House press office: I would say most of the tombs of our Founding Fathers are now on spin cycle.

    Posted by the talking dog  on  02/04  at  12:43 AM

  3. Human kindness overflowing, and I think it’s gonna rain today.

    Posted by Bob in Pacifica  on  02/04  at  01:39 AM

  4. The state of the union being in a state where a t-shirt can get you d**d---as related at Injecting Sense.

    Posted by Kristina Chew  on  02/04  at  02:27 AM

  5. She forgot to say the magic words. 

    “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

    We continue to believe this is a free country where any American can speak their mind.  We learned nothing from Ezra.

    Posted by  on  02/04  at  08:48 AM

  6. Many dear friends tell me it is too early to call what the federal government has become under the Bush Administration “fascist.” But I think we need to apply the label for all that it illuminates about the anti-democratic trends pouring down from above before it is too late to say anything.

    Posted by  on  02/04  at  09:30 AM

  7. >>>before it is too late to say anything.

    its not the government.  invert your aspersion. remediation of a government gone bad is child’s play in a democracy.  it’s as easy as throwing a switch.  what to do with anti-democratic constituents.  this is a much more interesting problem. as an employee of this great democracy, I can tell you that mid-level bureaucrats are very responsive to the will of the people.  you will not find a better value this side of Wal-Mart. your priorities are our priorities.  if the people want war machinery, we build that.  if the people want diplomacy, we facilitate that too.  have it your way. 

    what we can’t do for you is make up your mind.  throw the switch.  we’re ready.

    Posted by  on  02/04  at  11:58 AM

  8. off topic, but on topic… in the sense of what is behind the fear of the t-shirt’s message!!!

    and how about this for a cultural studies database??

    “All over the country, organized citizens are fighting to restrict the military’s presence in schools. But having recruiters troll high schools cafeterias is just one way the Pentagon inundates our youngsters with messages to “Go Army!”

    Since 2002, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has spent a half-million dollars a year creating a database it claims is “arguably the largest repository of 16-25 year-old youth data in the country, containing roughly 30 million students’ records.” In Pentagonese the database is part of the Joint Advertising, Marketing Research and Studies -JAMRS- project. Its purpose, along with additional millions spent on polling and marketing research, is to give the Pentagon’s $4 billion annual recruiting budget maximum impact. And it has lit a fire under civil libertarians, privacy advocates and counter-recruiting activists across the nation.”

    Later in the article you get a rundown of all the information, data-mining, corporations involved, as well as a tiny portion of the breakdown of just what JAMRS knows about you all.  What will Jamie’s file start to look like?????

    http://www.counterpunch.org/ferner02042006.html

    captcha word:  “number” (of course)

    Posted by  on  02/04  at  02:38 PM

  9. Rich mentioned the Wobblies above; and late yesterday this story popped up about unions and their experiencing threats to their free expression. 

    Surveillance Prompts a Suit:

    “The demonstrators arrived angry, departed furious. The police had herded them into pens. Stopped them from handing out fliers. Threatened them with arrest for standing on public sidewalks. Made notes on which politicians they cheered and which ones they razzed.

    Meanwhile, officers from a special unit videotaped their faces, evoking for one demonstrator the unblinking eye of George Orwell’s “1984.”

    “That’s Big Brother watching you,” the demonstrator, Walter Liddy, said in a deposition.

    Mr. Liddy’s complaint about police tactics, while hardly novel from a big-city protester, stands out because of his job: He is a New York City police officer. The rallies he attended were organized in the summer of 2004 by his union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, to protest the pace of contract talks with the city.”

    http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0203-10.htm

    Posted by  on  02/04  at  02:47 PM

  10. Greenwald has dethroned Billmon as the best of the best.

    Bill’s just with his family, is all.  It’d be different if he was still writing.

    No disrespect, of course, Michael is certainly in the same league, they all use the same pine tar, but he’s not the big enchilada, no.

    Posted by paradox  on  02/04  at  08:28 PM

  11. Off Topic, but Michael, you should look up Digby’s site when blogger un-crashes its self.  That is, if you aren’t too busy dilating.

    Cheers

    Posted by  on  02/04  at  08:39 PM

  12. Hey, paradox, are we quite sure that Greenwald isn’t Billmon?  And personally, I don’t think I’m in the same league.  But I’d be happy to get their autographs --

    And speaking of people in that league, Funky Boss, I did catch Tristero’s post chez Digby yesterday.  I was shocked and stunned and also surprised!  But I refuse, despite Tristero’s exhortation, to give up my false modesty.  What would I do without it?

    Posted by Michael  on  02/05  at  10:40 AM

  13. In fact, I’ve met Prof. Berube twice for dinner....
    Now, you might ask, “Did he ever get up, excuse himself, and say, ‘I’ll be right back, gotta dilate’ “ ? He did not.

    --tristero

    You’re lucky he didn’t! Sometimes he has don Clemenza tape a copy of *The Anti-Oedipus* to the back of the toilet cistern! Nice clean college kid like him....

    Posted by Huddy Bolus  on  02/05  at  12:38 PM

  14. dilate (Webster’s Un, 1913): To grow wide; to expand; to swell or extend in all directions.

    Pretty sure we Nebraskans outlawed dilatin’ when we made gay marriage illegal. No swelling or extending in all directions here. Have to check.

    (captcha – reaction)

    Posted by  on  02/05  at  01:47 PM

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