pop-culture for the people

By way of introduction, I wrote this as an email to a bunch of people about a year ago.  Names have been changed to protect the innocent, but other than that, it’s pretty much in its same form.  As always, comments are welcome. Oh, and anything in [] has been added for clarity for this article.

Ok, so I’d like to add to the Bush-bashing by talking about the Patriot Act.  I guess this would also be Ashcroft bashing, but that’s fine with me too.  This is probably going to be a rather long email, so if you don’t have the time to read it, you may want to stop now. 

Fist lets talk about me.  Really, there is a reason for this.  I have been moderately politically active for a number of years, since high school in fact.  I used to write letters to the White House during the Clinton administration for various reasons.  Usually it was for environmental reasons and I was most often addressing VP Gore.  But I used to joke that they probably have a file on me, cuz I’m sure they track people who write to the Pres and VP just to make sure they’re not going to be killed by a fanatic.  And I’m sort of ok with that.  Recently I’ve joined the ACLU and EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) for their action alerts so I can easily bombard congressmen with emails and faxes.  Plus I’m on around 6 other environmental and women’s issue lists (ask if you’re interested in any).  In addition I have a degree in Biology from a little-known private liberal arts school that we’re all familiar with, where I took a few chemistry courses, a few genetics courses, some development courses and a handful of politically charged women’s courses.  In addition, I routinely buy lots of stuff online at Amazon, where they keep VERY detailed records of buyer’s purchases, preferences, and ratings of various things.  And I’m very sure I have some rather odd purchases in that list, like Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War (which actually was a gift to my epidemiologist sister for X-mas, but that I currently have on my desk cuz she gave it to me after she was done with it).  I also used to write for a little website named Priva, dedicated to privacy online and off [another one of Hollywood’s sites].  I still sometimes write for another website that is not quite so political [as in this one]. So where am I going with this? Hang on, I’m getting there.

The Patriot Act.  Oh that bundle of joy.  Many people will say, it simply makes it easier to use law-enforcement techniques that were in operation before the act.  Hmmm.  Well, lets put it this way, before the Patriot Act you had to go to a JUDGE to get a WARRANT to search a privately owned building or place a wire tap.  Now the “Anti-terrorist” agents have to get permission from a “Anti-terrorism” committee whose meetings ARE HELD IN SECRET. These people are not held accountable for their decisions.  In addition, they are allowed, with one warrant, given by a secret committee, to SECRETLY search a persons residence repeatedly for up to a couple of weeks before even telling the person they are being searched.  Meaning the person can be searched without ever being actually served the warrant, or have time to notify a lawyer.  The “Anti-terrorism” committee can also authorize wire-taps.  We don’t even get to know who is on the committee or what their qualifications are.  At least with Judges you have some idea that they know the law.

The Patriot Act also gives the FBI access to library and bookstore records.  Know all those books that you’ve checked out over the years?  If your library hasn’t purged their records (which some have done now in response to this provision) your records have been turned over to the FBI.  Anybody else shop at Amazon?  Know that detailed list they have of past purchases and preferences?  The FBI can demand it if they want to, but there has not been any reports yet of them doing in.  They have, however, already taken the library lists.

Anybody here a registered diver?  A couple months ago the FBI requested and received 10 MILLION names and addresses of all the registered SCUBA divers in the US.  Whatever address you used when you registered is on that list.  My sister’s name is on list. She is a genetic counselor married to an immunologist from India. Think any red flags might have gone up on her?  What about me, since she’s my sister, plus they have all that other info on me already.  Plus my other sister the epidemiologist with an “interest” in germ warfare.  Think there have been any red flags for her?  Maybe my whole family has been red flagged because we’re all in the sciences. Think I’m being paranoid? Here are a couple of paraphrased true stories as reported in the Sacramento Bee.

Two white women go to board a plane for Boston.  They are detained for hours by FBI agents because their names came up on the “No-Fly List.”  What’s the no-fly list, you may ask?  Its the people, citizens or immigrants, who have been flagged by the FBI so that they are detained any time they try to fly.  Some people are detained because their names are SIMILAR to those on the list. Some are on the list despite no apparent connections with terrorist groups.  The two women had very American names, the only reason they think they were on the list is because they run an anti-war newspaper.  However, they can’t find out why.  The no-fly list is unpublished, unavailable for review, and you cannot find out the criteria for being put on it.  The two women with the help of the ACLU are suing the FBI to try to find out why they were on the list.  The FBI of course denies that people could be put on it because of political views.  They responded for requests for documentation regarding the case (under the Freedom of Information Act) by saying no such documentation exists.  Anyone else think this is starting to feel like an X-Files episode?  The no-fly list has also come under fire for being racial profiling because many people are being detained because they look middle eastern, or have middle eastern names. 

Back to the library thing.  Ashcroft has said that the actions of the libraries that are destroying their users info are hysterical and paranoid.  However, there has already been a case of a man surrounded by police at a library computer terminal after engaging in a political discussion about how much he hates Bush.  The secret service then got in on the action and questioned him for hours about whether he wants to hurt the president (and now I have just activated Carnivore because of that last phrase; if you don’t know, Carnivore is the email utility the FBI uses to search all email traffic for phrases that concern them, ie “hurt the president” and a whole bunch of others that I won’t list so that this email doesn’t send up enough flags for men in trenchcoats to come knocking on my door tonight).  So, it could happen, because it HAS ALREADY HAPPENED. 

So here’s my final thought.  Think back over the last couple of years.  What have you checked out at the library?  What have you bought online or at other places that track your purchases? What classes did you take in college?  What groups did you join? Who do you associate with? 

Consider this, If I really am red-flagged, or if this email sends up red flags, you have now been added to whatever list I’m on because I included you in this discussion.  Is this really the country we think it is?  Do you really want to live this way? 

Maybe I’m being paranoid.  Maybe I don’t have all the facts. And maybe my FBI file just got a little bigger.

—hathyr

Links:
The text of the Patriot Act courtesy of Thomas which you should check out anytime you need info on specific bills.

The EFF’s view of the Patriot Act.

The ACLU’s take on the Patriot Act

And as contrast, the government’s take on the Patriot Act

I don’t claim to know much about politics and I’m sure that there will be folks who are going to read this and try to make me sound like I know less than I do.  I do however follow politics more than most anyone I know my age, which is pretty sad.  I watch the news and get pissed off every night.  I don’t know why folks aren’t paying attention to what is going on around them, but as I like to say, ignorance and apathy will be the end of us.  Hell, it will be the end of this country as we know it and from what I can see it is already in progress.

When I was a kid in high school I learned a little about the different political parties.  Mostly I learned that there were two parties, Democrats and Republicans.  The Democrats are more ‘liberal’ and tend to run a government that regulates more and is more likely to spend the taxpayer’s money.  Republicans on the other hand supposedly are opposed to ‘big government’ and support privatization and like to spend less.  The things you learn in school…  All the money in the country and we get Mickey Mouse educations.

Aside from their being a lot more than two parties (though some might say that voting for them is to ‘throw your vote away’) the descriptions that my government ‘teachers’ taught me was misleading, at the very least a gross oversimplification.  The evidence is all around us.  Take a look at one of the most worrisome position our government has take since the McCarthy era, the so-called Patriot Act.  It single-handedly reverses many aspects of our law system to suspect everyone and make the suspect prove ones innocence instead of having to prove the suspects guilt.  All of this in the name of the ‘War on Terror’, a war on a feeling of being scared.  Why is it that the government is the one that scares me most?  If the saying that if you are innocent then you have nothing to fear is true, why do I still feel insecure?  But who watches the watchmen?  Ours is a government that allows no oversight, denies wrongdoing even when it is obvious to all, apologizes to nobody.  Nixon wishes he had it so good.

I turned 18 later in the year that I graduated.  The first time I voted, I hadn’t registered under a party, mostly because I was new to it.  Though it wasn’t required, I decided to register under a party for the next election.  Having learned that the Republicans were into staying out of your business, I thought it sounded good to me, so I registered as a Republican.  Why I registered for a party that didn’t have any candidates that seemed to say something I personally agreed with I can only attest to having a simplistic understanding of the political system.  This was during the Clinton/Dole election.

At the time I had some gripes about both candidates, but also liked each for different reasons.  I liked Clinton’s stance on environmental issues and liked Dole’s personality in interviews.  Clinton seemed a little smarmy and Dole seemed like a stronger figure.  I didn’t like Clinton supporting the Clipper chip (yes it is a geeky issue, but it has a greater affect on the world as a whole than you might realize) and the V-Chip nor did I like Dole’s opposition to abortion.  I ended up voting for Clinton.  I had issues with Clinton, but I didn’t see a real alternative.  For eight years I heard people from my party (who I hadn’t voted for anyone from) say things about the ‘liberal’ Democrats and their ‘tax and spend’ ways.  However I also saw one of the biggest booms in economy (and a wipeout of national debt), environmental protections unseen in many years.  It was a fairly peaceful period of time aside from things like the war in Bosnia.  Of course there were some things like a welfare reform system that didn’t end up as planned, NAFTA which has largely backfired and of course the Monica incident (which really was an issue that should have been between him, Hillary and Monica, not the entire world).  However he did lie about the incident, which he shouldn’t have done.  Employment was skyrocketing (at least in the technology field which I am in).

I’ve watched my party grow in the past 12 years since I first started paying any attention to politics.  I’ve seen it co-opted by a fundamentalist Christian agenda.  While I myself am a Christian, I see no place in religion in the US government.  When religion and government mix, it only leads to trouble.  Look at the Middle East for plenty of examples.  Thomas Jefferson (remember him?) was very clear about this in countless articles he wrote in office as well as many historical letters.  Christians may have founded this country but no place in our government should religion or politics intermingle.  Bush talking about God during speeches shouldn’t happen.  That Bush uses Christians (and some are happily used) to promote his own agenda without abiding the same things they claim to support is appalling.  I’ve seen our surplus return to debt.  I’ve seen peacetime turn to two wars, only one of which should have occurred.  I’ve seen a national tragedy turned into an excuse for invasions of privacy.  I’ve seen government accountability disappear.

After 9/11 the entire country was united, and much of the world with it.  Bush had the chance of a lifetime to use this national willpower to find those responsible and take action against them.  Instead he found a distraction in Iraq and has stayed their ever since.  Bush has also divided this country more than I have ever seen it (which admittedly is not very long as I’ve only been around for some 26 years).  I have never seen a presidency that has done more to hurt the nation’s image, alienating all of our former allies and embarrassing the citizens with an image of incompetence.

It is amazing to me that any woman or anyone of a minority supports the Republican party.  Today’s Republicans only respect white males who are in tax brackets that most of us won’t ever belong to.  To everyone else, they are a good-looking [wo]man that loves you and leaves you after you put a ballot in their box.  Why do I stay in the party?  I’m not sure.  I guess I like the idea of voting against the party, making a stand for change from the inside.  I don’t know how much it matters (aside from not being able to vote in primaries and being counted as a member against what I stand for) in the bigger scheme of things.  However I can say that a single vote does count.  But with things fixed in this country the way they are, the last time it came down to a few votes, it still didn’t matter.  I can understand why people get sick of politics and young people don’t want to deal with it.  However it is something you have to deal with.  I don’t care who you vote for (though I do hope you vote the Republicans out of office) I want everyone to vote for somebody, anybody.

I know this article is disconnected and apologize.  I have a hard time writing about politics because it is a very emotional issue for me and tangents spring to mind that I can’t repress.  I just can’t stand the direction this country has taken, through an organization I’m a part of, in the name of ‘freedom’ for a people that are widely divided about the legality and righteousness of our actions.  Presidents come and go, but we still must be Americans.  When you leave this country and visit another, you should be proud of your nation and not feel the need to call yourself a Canadian due to our policies.  Our media has been co-opted by the same people in power and haven’t done their job to keep the government in check, as is their job.  Watergate’s are happening all around us but we will likely never hear about the truth until it is too late.  Why this nation isn’t angrier about the direction its going in either makes me wonder what went wrong.  The nation’s founders would be proud of many things about our country, but I’m sure they’d roll in their graves if they saw what is going on under the skin of the nation.  As long as the checks and balances they put into place some 220 years ago stay in effect, this administration will go the way of the dodo.

I’m sure there will be flames, please keep them honest by providing verifiable links to back up your argument.

-Hollywood

More:

Plan of Attack, Bob Woodward’s (one of the two guys who uncovered Watergate) book on the administration’s war on Iraq.

Air America Radio.  Politics and entertainment.  The leftwing media.  “The” leftwing media?  Yep, this is about all there is.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. 

Thomas Jefferson on Religion and government.  Why does it matter?  Because he helped write the rules.

Ann Coulter, traitor to her gender and humankind.  Also a heavily misguided Republican.

Well, somebody had to do it.  I’ve decided to take on gay marriage; maybe I can inspire as much ire as “Here Comes the Pain Again.”

Here’s my basic position: who the hell cares who marries who?  I don’t want somebody telling me who I can marry, whether I can marry, whether I can have kids, how many kids I can have and what religion I must abide by, or that I must abide by a religion at all.  And because I don’t want anyone telling me what I must do with my life, I will not tell anyone what they must do with theirs.  I want my government out of my uterus, off my body and out of my bedroom!

Anti-gay rights individuals will say that gay marriage is the “death” of marriage as we know it.  I’ve heard oh-so-educated numb-nuts on various radio shows say that gay marriage invalidates their marriage with their wives.  If your marriage is that easily invalidated, or requires a piece of paper to make you feel secure in it, then your problems cannot be solved by preventing gays from marrying.

I would say divorce (at the going 50% rate) is a much bigger threat to marriage than gays are.  Are we going to outlaw divorce? No.  Why?  Well, that’s an absurd question, right?  Why is it absurd?  Because the government would be invading heterosexual (read: sanctioned) choices, and we can’t have that.

They say that marriage is designed to protect the family unit and further the species.  If that’s so, than why are infertile couples allowed to stay married?  Why are people who never intend to have children allowed to get married?  Why aren’t people who have kids out-of-wedlock forced to get married?  Why aren’t people who have kids forbidden from getting divorced?  Because it is against their basic civil rights.  Frankly, I think humans are doing ok as a species; we really don’t need the government to step in.

Some people say that we shouldn’t extend special rights to a small group.  Special rights? 90% of the population is allowed to choose (or not choose) marriage at will.  The government is denying rights to a minority; otherwise known as discrimination.  Here’s an example people may find easier to relate to.  I have been in a monogamous heterosexual relationship for 6 ½ years; we are not married.  If I were to get into a serious accident tomorrow, my significant other would have no right to visit me in the ICU.  In fact, it would be up to the discretion of the hospital to allow him to see me or not.  Say our dog was a child; because all of his records are in my name (i.e. he’s legally my child only) my significant other would have no right to keep him should I die.  It would be up to my next of kin to decide where the dog ends up.  Say I owned a house, even if my significant other had been paying half the mortgage for 6 years, my next of kin would have rights to it.  Of course, we can remedy this.  We can go to Vegas tomorrow and get a piece of paper that says he has all the rights to our shared stuff that he previously lacked.  In fact, if we shared a lease for 6 or 7 years the state would just go ahead and confer legal married status on us.  Homosexual couples have no ability to remedy the unfair situation they find themselves in.  If they have a shared child, the non-biological partner may try to legally adopt, but that is usually up to the discretion of a judge.  Even in the case where a will has been made, the family of the deceased can contest it and take away the children, houses, shared property; anything the living partner did not have “legal” right to.  In cases where a couple has had a child and then split up, the non-biological partner often has no rights to the child, even if he or she has been co-raising the child for years.  Gay marriage (and divorce) would actually ensure that families stay together, at least in the sense that parents would have the right to see their children.

So, why marriage, why not just a civil union?  Well, if it does not have all the benefits of marriage, it’s discrimination.  If it does have all the benefits of marriage, it is marriage and you might as well call it that.  We already know that there is no such thing as equal but separate.  The civil rights wars of the 50’s and 60’s taught us that well, and now at the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka it is important to recognize that civil rights issues have not gone away.  The rampant racism of just 40 years ago has not disappeared, it has simply found a new outlet.

You know, as a side note, I think it is awfully funny that members of the GOP, which for years have been known as the party that wants the government out of our lives, is so willing to add to the Constitution to further regulate our lives.  It’s also amusing to me that “activist” judges are such a problem now that they aren’t doing what the GOP wants, but back in 2000 during Bush v. Gore they were doing their duty by appointing a president.  An amendment to the constitution to define marriage?  Are you kidding me? Some people have even suggested that without the marriage amendment, there is nothing to stop groups of people or corporations from going out and getting marriage licenses and all the benefits that they bestow.  Maybe I’ll go out and marry my dog; he’s a male, so it should be perfectly fine.  The amendment doesn’t specify species, only gender.

Ok, that’s it, have at me now.  Here are some links to keep the masses amused:
Dozens of Gays Wed Legally in Massachusetts

One person’s rebuttal of all the anti-gay marriage arguments

This guy describes homosexual relationships as “parasitic”

American Family Association
Great article about how the AFA got their comeuppance in an online poll

Agape Press: “Reliable News from a Christian Source”

Family Research Council

And no discussion on gay rights would be complete without the Christian Coalition of America who incidentally are still protesting women in the military.

—hathyr