End the War on Freedom

I Vote for You for God

When your eyes have found the strength
To constantly speak to the world
All that is most dear
To your own
Life,

When your hands, feet, and tongue
Can perform in that rare unison
That comforts this longing earth
With the knowledge

Your soul,
Your soul has been groomed
In His city of love;

And when you can make others laugh
With jokes
That belittle no one
And your words always unite,

Hafiz
Does vote for you.

Hafiz will vote for you to be
The minister of every country in
This universe.

Hafiz does vote for you my dear.
I vote for you
To be
God.

(The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, translations by Daniel Ladinsky)

russmo.com - Career Opportunities - cartoon commentary on the new Airport Security Service. Hahahaaa.

From the December 5 edition of the Wall Street Journal as quoted in Liberator Online:

The House Ways and Means Committee is probably the most appropriately-named committee in the House. Our job is to figure out ways of separating people from their means. -- Bill Thomas (R-CA), Chairman

From kaba

The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth. -- H. L. Mencken

Brian Fitzgerald - Beating the Drums - a poem for peace. Very nice. [brianf]

Brian Fitzgerald - fear not our frightened leader (a lullaby for all ages) - another antiwar poem with a twist at the end. [brianf]

Reuters via Wired - GM Veers Towards Fuel Cells Cars - GM is working on a fuel-cell vehicle that they call "Autonomy". In the process, they're redefining the concept of automobile. I want one. [mind]

Autonomy houses all the essential elements of the car, including the fuel cell to provide power, in a skateboard-like chassis between the four wheels and under the body and seats of the vehicle.

The chassis could be fitted with a wide variety of bodies, such as a minivan interior for a family in the United States, or a pickup truck bed for hauling livestock in China, GM said.

Because the Autonomy chassis has a 20-year lifespan, a growing family could change from a sporty sedan to a larger sport utility vehicle by switching the body, a far cheaper alternative to buying a new vehicle. Or if the vehicle needs more power, the fuel cell can be expanded.

General Motors - GM's AUTOnomy Concept Vehicle Reinvents Automobile - GM's description of their new baby. Check out the specs page for a drawing of the Autonomy "Skateboard".

John McCabe at loony dot org - Hey SUIT! - Mr. McCabe is mistaken for his clothing.

After a subway ride, transfer, and short walk in the driving wet snow, I got to work. I immediately went into the restroom and checked...still nothing.

I wash my forehead once a day, at least, and still, the sign inviting this kind of shit seems to be there. I can't see it, either, so it's only that much more frustrating.

Helen Highwater at Unknown News - What would Genghis Khan do? - President Reagan called the Soviet Union "the evil empire" shortly before its collapse. This was considered undiplomatic, but given that they murdered at least 20,000,000 of their own people, it was accurate. Guess who gets the title as the world's evil empire today? Amerika. Our government can't get away, yet, with murdering millions of its own people, but it does a bang up job of it in the rest of the world. [unknown]

When asked why people in so many countries are so angry at America that they're willing to die to hurt Americans, President Bush says only, "They're evil." And "They hate our freedoms."

The president says such things with a straight face, and the media reports it with a straight face, as if America's self-image of itself as the world's good guy is shared by the rest of the world.

It's not. The rest of the world knows better, often from first-hand experience.

Larry Chin at Online Journal - "Black Hawk Down" -- Hollywood drags bloody corpse of truth across movie screens - How the new movie about the death of 18 U.S. Special Forces soldiers in Somalia rewrites history to better fit what the U.S. government wants you to believe. [lew]

The operation had nothing to do with humanitarianism or Africa- love on the part of Bush or Clinton. Several US oil companies, including Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips were positioned to exploit Somalia's rich oil reserves. The companies had secured billion-dollar concessions to explore and drill large portions of the Somali countryside during the reign of pro-US President Mohamed Siad Barre. (In fact, Conoco's Mogadishu office housed the US embassy and military headquarters.) A "secure" Somalia also provided the West with strategic location on the coast of Arabian Sea.

UN military became necessary when Barre was overthrown by warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid, suddenly rendering Somalia inhospitable to US corporate interests.

...

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Somalis were killed in the course of US incursions that took place over three months.

...

What viewers see is "brave and innocent young American boys" getting shot at and killed for "no reason" by "crazy black Islamists" that the Americans are "just trying to help." (Subtext one: America is good, and it is impossible to understand why "they hate us." Subtext two: "Those damned ungrateful foreigners." Subtext three: "Those damned blacks." Subtext four: "Kill Arabs.")

Vin Suprynowicz - 'Wiping out the surplus': Desperate Dems take blackjacks and tire irons to the tiny Bush tax cuts - part of The Libertarian series. Concerning senator Daschle's whining about GW's tax cuts.

Perhaps what the Democrats need is a Senate Majority Leader less fearful of setting forth their true agenda. One nominee comes quickly to mind. Freshman U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton went on New York television last month and called not just for a repeal of the Bush tax cuts, but for actual federal tax rate hikes.

Now there's a Democrat.

Michael L. Betsch at Cybercast News Service - 'No Compromise,' Says Armed Women's Group - a little internet press for Armed Females of America, Carma Lewis'es RKBA organization. [geneice]

'No compromise," Lewis stated, means "every single firearm law that is on the books is illegal." The AFA wants all laws pertaining to firearms repealed.

...

Lewis is a firm believer in the Constitution. By her account, "Everything hinges on the Second Amendment." Any compromise made with regards to the Second Amendment puts America one step close to tyranny, and she warned that could mean, "We lose everything."

Lloyd Grove at The Washington Post - Boxers or Briefs? Rep. Dingell's Airport Exposure - the "ranking member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee" was made to lower his pants for airport security. His artificial hip set off the metal detector. Boxers.

Andrew Downie at The Christian Science Monitor - Brazil's drug users will get help, instead of jail - Brazil has changed their drug laws. They will no longer imprison users. Yes! They still consider selling drugs to be a crime, however. Well, it's slowly getting better, eh? [grabbe]