the bastards' last stand

The deeper danger of the concentration of media ownership comes in matters that much more deeply concern us than whether Murdoch gets on the local cable systems in New York: The matters of great national policy, matters of local policy. When they control all the sources of media within a community, this is a very dangerous situation. They can declare their own blackout of news they don't want the public to share. Or they can twist the news any way they please. And there's no monitor. There's nobody to say "don't". Nobody to say, "Hey, wait a minute, folks, you're not getting the truth." --Walter Cronkite My experience in Spain has been far easier than I expected (that's an understatement, it has actually been far easier than I probably deserved, I found the love of my life, friendship, music, and a great diet, all on the Mediterranean.) I expected to find myself being forced to speak for US imperialism, but mostly all I've gotte...

It's been a while. I've been trying to start writing again. But with the amount of crap that seems to be going on in the US or because of Prez & Co., outside the US, it's like trying to jump onto a speeding train. Living outside the country it's difficult to tell if the state of the nation would seem so dire were I there, or if the population would seem, if not apathetic, as disconnected as it seems now. I'm not sure what an American population that is tuned into the rapid decay of the nation would look like. Or if the corporate owned media would actually portray that politically involved population. Still, I don't think I'm seeing that. The US stands for torture now. Prez & Co. want free reign to monitor telephone and email communications in the country, of American citizens.....My god I have to stop there. This administration is a Pandora's box of bad and wicked shit. The list is too long, the offenses too many to recount or adequatel...

It seems both incredibly frightening and obvious that Iraq has become a distraction serving to keep us off balance and unable to focus on the administrations actual intents (if it hasn't been that from the beginning). I don't pretend to know exactly what all of this is about beyond expanding executive power for its own sake, sick minds are unpredictable. But Jim Webb is right, the congress does need to get ahead of the White House on Iran. I've said it before, I actually thought it would happen sooner, but the administration obviously intends to bomb Iran. They have been planning and making obvious moves in that direction for a while, essentially using the same type of unsupported rhetoric and intelligence that they used to take us to war in Iraq. Supposedly the Iranians are arming insurgents but the British, who are in a better position to know, say it's not true . There's a reason that Blair has finally found a bandwagon he won't jump on, he has been da...

As I mentioned sometime ago I've been following the politics and happenings in the US but not writing. I said it before, and I'll say it again, things look frightening for my country, we are on a precipice. If you doubt this I would invite you to step out of the country and view it from the outside for a moment. Consider for a moment a few things: in a country built on the principles of a secular state with no cardinal religion and freedom of religion, we have a US congressman spewing bigoted bile about another congressman's choice to be sworn in on the Koran, with no comment from his own party; we have a president who has asserted his right to open our mail if he deems it necessary; he has also decided to throw more american lives in harms way, despite the advice of his military leaders (who he's decided to replace) and pretty much every expert, and the will of his employers. I get most of my news online, from blogs and newspapers. I watch a lot of video clips fro...

Although I have been following politics almost religiously, i have been too preoccupied to write much. From here, especially with the recent The President Can Throw Anyone in Jail as an Enemy Combatatant Act--I can't remember what it's called-- I hardly recognize my country. People have't taken to the streets? I just thought this Tom Toles cartoon said it all for me.

I promised to write about my travels in Seattle and Spain and have decided that in order to do that I should start a new blog. I am realizing that I still want a place to write about politics and call bush an idiot if I felt the need. I don't know that I will, but still... If you are interested in reading about my travels you can find that at http://oldworldnew.blogspot.com/ .

So I'm sitting in Barcelona, without my luggage, which sucks, but i am in Barcelona, which does not. I have long ago decided that I'm tired of talking about American politics. It's just stupid, but I can't ignore it. I want to and I can't, completely. I'd rather write about the wonderful people with whom I spent time in Seattle and the activities but I was reminded, again, that we are approaching the anniversary of the Katrina disaster, the event which for many Americans crystalized their understanding of who this administration is as well as being the event that made me start blogging. To some degree they have gotten away with it, but not completely. So for now I would like to turn your attention towards my posts from last year and the timeline of what happened and what has happened since from Think Progress .