Archive for June, 2008

Considering Moving Abroad

June 30, 2008 at 9:21 am · Filed under On Economics, On Education, On Migration, On Personal Development, On Self-Expression

Last night on through to this morning I’ve focused my attention on learning about select countries in South America in search of the most compatible destination for a future expatriate experience. It appears I’ve found what I’m looking for after weeks of familiarizing myself with volunteer, internship and educational opportunities everywhere from India to Thailand, from Costa Rica to China. While the Far East holds much appeal, the restrictions most countries place on single female travelers are unbearable for this freedom-loving and openly-expressive gal. Besides, the food in South America sounds fabulous.

So, I’ve narrowed down my choices after much deliberation and am content with my selection. The region’s gorgeous, other expatriates say the people are engaging and friendly, and from the looks of job boards finding employment shouldn’t be a problem. The degree is almost completed, I possess years of experience working on small business/personal web site design using Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop programs, and though it’s since been forgotten, there was a time where I knew a little bit of Spanish. But I can learn Spanish with time and look forward to doing so, as it was already on my list of things to do before dying. While I don’t possess much experience working outdoors or on eco-projects, I have spent years working with animals in one capacity or another, which may come in handy.

The desire to get back to basics and away from Big Brother’s prying eyes and this undeniable authoritarian shift has led in recent weeks to my decision to become an expatriate. Whether permanent or temporary, I’ve always longed for the opportunity to experience life outside of the U.S. borders but simply haven’t had access to the funds nor the time. College has tethered me to one U.S. city or another since 2003, making travel near impossible beyond 2-hour weekend roadtrips to the next state over and bi-annual visits down south to see family. With all of that wrapping up, freedom to move about is right around the corner. Who knows for sure what’s in store, but some change will only do me good.

My friends say, “But it’s patriarchal down there.” To which I reply that it’s patriarchal here. We seem to forget that U.S. society promotes just as many backward double-standards as any place else on earth; we just happen to be accustomed to our own unique brand of male supremacy. Oh sure, it’s more far more lax than oppressive nations in the Middle East, but that doesn’t imply that the U.S. is a female utopia by any means. We have our problems, major ones at that, particularly in the realm of domestic violence and sexual assault, that are customarily downplayed when compared to the living conditions in foreign countries. While women in the U.S. have laboriously fought and won many battles in order to gain recognition in the business world, we continue to lag behind in the respect we are granted as fellow humans. Sad but true. And that, stubbornly, appears to be the trend just about everywhere on earth, except perhaps in Sweden and Norway.

So, I’ll have to accept the concerned advice from my male friends in the spirit in which it was intended and simply promise to do my best to be careful. They too need to understand that my optimism doesn’t spring from the belief in some sort of ‘promise land’ abroad but from already having put up with so much within the U.S. that I find it difficult to accept that “true evil” only resides outside of our borders. Or perhaps I’m an idiot with much abuse coming my way in the future. Who knows? You take your chances, roll the dice, and prepare the best you can.

Traveling solo as a woman wasn’t my original plan of action, but if none of them will come with me, then I suppose it will suffice. One friend has just returned from living in Costa Rica for two years and is no longer interested in traveling. The others are tied to family and work obligations, which is completely understandable. The couples I know who are considering moving abroad most likely won’t see their plans materialize for years to come due to economic constraints and childcare concerns. But I have no husband, no kids, and no reason to sit around here, going broke, in an economy offering no signs of improving any time soon. What some don’t seem to understand is that life for a single person without a college degree in an expensive country such as this is extremely trying. Our lives become reduced down to getting by on a month-to-month or paycheck-to-paycheck basis, and unless we’re in school with plans of graduating, there’s not much hope on the horizon. That is unless we agree to marry, but to marry someone purely for economic reasons goes against my romantic spirit. This is the land of the dual-income, and for plenty of families that’s not even enough. If it weren’t for prostitution, at least on the side, there’s no telling how I would have gotten by for this long.

Like it or lump it, it’s the truth as I’ve experienced it. It’s extremely disheartening to be told time and again that the only reason people fail in this country is because there is something innately wrong with them, they’re lazy, or they’re stupid. How can that be when most of the hardest-working folks I’ve known have also been the poorest? And by comparison, those at the top seem to have a great deal of time to devote to leisure activities. We grow up being told a college degree is the ticket to success, only later to find out as we near graduation that the entry-level jobs we qualify for right out of school pay only $10-$13/hr. on average. That’s after accumulating $40,000 worth of student loans. With bills averaging $1500/mo. already. Now you’re told you must attain a Master’s degree as well if you wish to become truly competitive. Why? So I can go in debt another $40,000+ and be told there are no jobs upon graduating then too?

Then again, I am majoring in Social Science. Not exactly the most demanding or high-paying job field. But I was never aiming for high pay…just a reasonable salary that one person can get by on. That in and of itself has become a pipe dream for plenty of people, in my field and many others.

The message I’m getting from all of this is if you’re not chasing the all-mighty dollar, then you’re a moron and only have yourself to blame. But what about those of us concerned with contributing to the social development and improvement of our society? Has that no meaningful place in American society? It doesn’t appear to these days.

So, I’ll take my skills and interests to another market and see if they perhaps can benefit from them, either through a volunteer or paid position depending on what comes available a few months down the road. In the meantime, I’ll focus my attention on finishing up this degree and learning Spanish. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

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Drunks, Time, Life, Death, and Such

June 29, 2008 at 10:25 pm · Filed under On Body & Health, On Religion & Beliefs, On Self-Expression

An article by Fred Reed, who “bills himself as a curmudgeon, and one can only say he’s a man well suited to that role. He’s a keen observer with a unique style and point of view — that rare man who sees clearly what comes before him.”

For most gringos, Mexico is a place to retire. The Mexicans say, “The Americans come here to die.” Not exactly. It isn’t why they come, but it is what they do, there being eventually no choice. Everybody has to croak somewhere, so why not in the sunshine with little brown kids running back and forth and the street dogs lounging contentedly about? It beats, for some anyway, a wretched sanitarium and lots of tubes.

In the hills on the north side of town, where the nice houses are, you see aging couples like couples anywhere. It could be Lauderdale. They have each other and insurance and pensions and savings. In the bars you see the old single guys. They have close to nothing.

At nine in the morning they sit on green iron benches and wait for the cantinas to open. Little beyond white hair unites them in appearance. Some are thin, others fat, others whatever you can think of except moneyed. “Drunks” is not quite the right word for them. They are just old guys whose lives are spent and they sit around and drink beer and wait. It’s what they have. They seldom fall off stools or get into fights. They are anything but dangerous. They are just old guys with nothing, waiting.

Some would find them reprehensible. Why don’t they do something improving, learn to knit, or take up square dancing? This is harsh. What does a man do when he is seventy years old, his wife died eight years ago in Louisiana, and the trucking firm no longer wants him as a driver? Social Security and a small pension don’t go far in America. He comes to Ajijic and moves into the residential hotel, Italo’s, a block from the plaza and easy walking distance to the bars. It’s cheap and decent and the rooms come with kitchenette and the maids clean them. I’ve stayed there.

He’s seventy and tired, too old to learn a language and probably not of that bent anyway. He doesn’t want to learn to square dance. He is not looking for a cultural experience, not looking for much of anything. Women no longer interest him except as nice people, and anyway the diabetes doesn’t help in that department. So he talks to his friends. And he drinks. It takes the curse off. Besides, if he bothers no one else, it is the business of no one else — n’est-ce pas?

It is a mistake to think these men to be of no account because they are ending their days on a bar stool. They have had lives, traveled, drifted, worked, loved, had families or not, seen things and done things. Often they are intelligent and thoughtful. They are just through.

We live in a censorious age in America, an age of “Gotcha!” in which drinking looms loathsome, smoking is a crime to be punished, second-hand smoke a fearful threat to children and plants and wallpaper. Oh dear. We all must be vigilant for racism, sexism, and the rest. Psychologists call it “passive aggressiveness,” though I think that “the Higher Priss” does nicely. Well, I say, each to his or her or its own. Still, I have always found people who smoke and drink and do the occasional doob to be more interesting than those who don’t — certainly than the drab Comstocks of the current Carryan Nation.

So I’ll cut these guys some slack. You choose an exit door, or fall through one. They have. So will you.

Not all stay in one place. In Italo’s when I was there I met a guy well into his seventies who was about to get on a third-class bus to Guatemala, I think it was. He didn’t walk too well and moved as if he had sand in his joints. He seemed sad but was keeping his chin up. He knew a hotel in a nice town outside Guatemala City where the food was cheap and the young girls just so pretty. He meant nothing sexual. They were just pretty, like pictures. He liked watching them and the kids and Guatemala.

Now that’s rough, I thought. To be at the end of his days and bouncing around bad roads on a Guatemalan bus, alone, going where he probably knew nobody — that’s not the feather-bed route out the door. But he didn’t want to spend the winter in Ajijic. At least he was free. I wished him well.

Some drunks have other stories. There was a fellow, in his thirties I’d guess, who always wore a white cowboy hat and lied compulsively about what daring things he had done. This is common. It’s called “border promotion.” You know: “I was a SEAL team leader before I was an astronaut, between being a fighter pilot and president of IBM.” Sometimes it seems like half the gringo population used to be in the CIA.

Anyway, the guy with the white cowboy hat said he used to be a dead-end drunk, and had the tremor to prove it. But he was over it, he said, and in fact seemed to be. Then one night he got a ride home with somebody, pulled a pistol from somewhere, put it under his chin and blew the top of his head off. AIDS, or at least HIV. We make our choices. The consensus was that he should have done it somewhere else, where it wouldn’t have put a hole in the roof of the car and generally made a mess.

Sometimes one of the old guys will take up with a poor Mexican gal of twenty-five with four kids. They move in together. You could say that it was absurd, that neither knew the other’s language and he was a dirty old man and she a gold-digger. You could also try to exercise a little decency. Not everybody has choices. Usually he treats her well, puts food on the table, maybe gets her some dental work or insists that the kids go to school. It’s better than nothing. She cooks and keeps house and has a few years of security, and he leaves her whatever he can. I’ve seen such couples who seemed happy together. You play the hand you draw.

Things are different for those of intellectual resources, who take up photography seriously, fly ultralights, read, or keep on at whatever they did for a living at a reduced level. I’m not sure how different it is. They too are waiting. So are we all. But there were drunks before there were moralists, and I hope there will be drunks after, as they are so much less tedious, and closer to the human condition.

To read this article and others by Fred Reed (and others), go to The American Expatriate website.

This article struck me so I had to copy and share it. The viewpoint expressed here, as depressing as it might seem to some, is an honest portrayal of life. We seek out magnificence and immortality, fearing the simplicity and seeming futility of our life-long efforts within the greater macro perspective of humanity, past and present. We demonize those substances and lifestyle choices that may bring us (or others) closer to the inevitable end, even (or perhaps especially) when the end looms near. We freak out even when the ‘harm’ being done is on the volition of those partaking and in no direct way affects our individual quality of life. It may not affect us one way or the other, though it may bring some measure of comfort to those whose lives have gone awry or neared the end of the road, and yet we bitch. We bitch about lives we’ve never lived, realities we refuse to face, and assumptions we’re not in a position to make.

I’ve spent my time at bars speaking to the very types of people described in the article above. Hard-luck and aging men mostly, seeking peace and comfort in a bar stool with a bottle of brew and a pack of cigarettes at their favorite local pubs (usually the VA hangout and maybe a couple of other hole-in-the-wall joints). One of these hole-in-the-wall joints became my regular (and almost daily) hangout for roughly two years, so the author’s words in no way seem unfamiliar. But you don’t hear someone say these sort of things out loud now days in regular civilian society, outside of the bars anyway. You don’t typically hear the life stories of veterans who served in the Korean War, went on to become Teamsters, lost the love of their lives 8 years back to cancer, don’t hear from their adult kids much anymore, and who now drink in the afternoons and evenings to pass the time as they wait for life to wrap itself up. They tell their stories at their bars to the friends and acquaintances they’ve made and don’t usually make much of a fuss over the whole ordeal.

One man in particular comes to mind. Every once in a while the corners of his eyes would well up with tears as he spoke of years gone by, particularly when sharing about his wife and how she came to pass. He missed her so much. But he’d tell you he’s too tired and old to start over again, pushing almost 80 by the time I met him. He’d tell you that he’d served his country, worked his whole life, provided what he could, and is now content in just waiting the rest of it out. As a 23-24 year old at the time, it did strike me as so sad, but not because he was there sitting at the bar so much as that he was almost completely alone in this world. The buddies he made were those he drank with as many of his lifelong friends had already passed away.

He touched my life with his peaceful demeanor and stories from an era before my existence. Ol’ Roy, that’s what we called him. He wasn’t a saint and from his stories it sounds like there are a lot of things he wished he could go back and change, but he is just as valuable as the next person and has a right to pursue comfort of his choosing (obviously so long as it doesn’t infringe directly on the rights of others, which drinking in a bar does not). In Ol’ Roy’s case, it didn’t appear he had many choices to select from.

The alcohol helps numb the mind a bit, but it’s the companionship that brought us all out. Even if we didn’t speak to one another, it was better to be in a gathering than alone at the apartment with only your own thoughts to occupy the time. We sought comfort in numbers, knowing that we were a collection of lost souls brought together to cheer ourselves and one another, each with secrets and demons we struggled with. But we showed respect to one another by not prying and taking the time to listen. Some call it alcoholism, I call it therapy.

That’s not to say drugs and drinking are just dandy and everyone should drown their sorrows instead of facing up to the challenges of life. It is to say that we each have different ways of handling suffering and loneliness, and we could show more compassion to those who have already lived long lives. I took the time I needed to mend my broken heart and am young enough to where resilience is expected, but these folks aren’t necessarily in the same boat as you or I am. We could learn much from them, both the intellectuals and the blue-collars, if we cared to listen.

I’d like to continue on and explain how this sort of perspective of human nature fuels my understanding in relation to voluntary euthanasia, hospice care, our so-called “war” on drugs and victimless crimes, and yes, even prostitution, but I’ll save that for another time. I will say though that my Southern upbringing has everything to do with laying the foundation for my core belief that we have a social responsibility to live and let live (or die). While I realize it isn’t common for someone to claim these days that Deep South, USA, is where their inspiration for peace bloomed from, it’s one pocket where the rebellious spirit in the name of liberty and freedom continues to thrive.

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Pastor discusses the “North American Community”

June 28, 2008 at 10:45 pm · Filed under On Economics, On Politics ·Tagged , , , ,

From an email I received earlier:

I urge you and all other opponents of the North American Union (NAU) and NAFTA Superhighway to go to the NAU War Room to read the latest article (from WorldNetDaily) posted on our news page.  The article, written by Dr. Robert Pastor, does more to prove the existence of plans for both the Superhighway and the NAU than anything I could have written!

In an article titled “I propose a North American Community”, Pastor denies that any plans for an NAU or NAFTA Superhighway exist.  Incredibly, he then goes on to argue strongly that 1) we need to tear down barriers between the U.S. and Canada, and Mexico, 2) that NAFTA is a great success, 3) that he wants not a “North American Union”, but rather a “North American Community”, 4) that the SPP  does not go far enough, 5) that we need a not an actual “European Union”, but rather something “leaner”,  and 6) that a “NAFTA Superhighway” is urgently needed.  Pastor also denies that he seeks a common currency similar to the ‘Euro”– not because it’s a bad idea – but rather because we don’t yet have a good plan to introduce it to our economies!

Go the NAU War Room and read this revealing article from the “Father of the North Community” himself.

http://www.nauwarroom.org

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Not so fast…

June 28, 2008 at 12:26 am · Filed under On Education

After tallying up my credits, it appears I am short 2 classes (6 credits), which means I’ll have to stick around for one more term (plus the senior thesis project that follows). By dropping the second major in Criminal Justice down to a minor, I’ll only need one more class (Ethics in CJ) to complete its requirements, which should come available online next term.

And here I was about to go running through the hills. Damn.

So I suppose it’s time to look in the course catalog to see what classes will be available in the July/August term. Graduation will have to be postponed until late October.

But that’s ok. It gives me more time to prepare and think about where to go after graduation.

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Global Peace Index Rankings

June 27, 2008 at 8:46 am · Filed under On Imagination, On International Affairs, On Migration, Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

Here’s an interesting site I happened across this morning: Vision of Humanity.

In 2008, according to its Global Peace Index, the United States ranked 97th in terms of peacefulness out of a pool of 140 countries. We were ranked 96th in 2007. The top nations listed in the index are:

  1. Iceland
  2. Denmark
  3. Norway
  4. New Zealand
  5. Japan
  6. Ireland

Nice to know. Interestingly enough, a few of these countries had already piqued my interest recently as possible expatriate destinations.

Other countries of interest in order of their respective ranking:

  1. Canada – 11th
  2. Australia – 27th
  3. United Kingdom – 49th
  4. Cuba – 62nd
  5. China – 67th
  6. Syria – 75th
  7. Mexico – 93rd
  8. India – 107th
  9. Venezuela – 123rd
  10. Iraq – 140th

Good information for those of us considering moving or volunteering abroad.

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US detainees drugged for deportation

June 27, 2008 at 1:59 am · Filed under Criminal Justice, On Body & Health, On Power

By Amy Goldstein and Dana Priest
Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
Published: May 15, 2008

The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.

The government’s forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the “pre-flight cocktail,” as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane.

“Unsteady gait. Fell onto tarmac,” says a medical note on the deportation of a 38-year-old woman to Costa Rica in late spring 2005. Another detainee was “dragged down the aisle in handcuffs, semi-comatose,” according to an airline crew member’s written account. Repeatedly, documents describe immigration guards “taking down” a reluctant deportee to be tranquilized before heading to an airport.

To read more of this story, visit Gulfnews.com.

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Give Preemptive Peace A Chance

June 26, 2008 at 9:15 am · Filed under On Imagination, On Politics, On Radical Feminism-Humanitarianism, On Self-Expression

Video clips of protests of the war:

2003 preemptive war protest: in memory of Jim Miller (Jamestown, New York)

Anti-War Protest – January 27th, 2007 (Washington D.C.)

United for Peace & Justice March – Jan 27 2007

Arrests at U.S. Capitol in Antiwar Protest – May 2007

Cleveland Iraq War Protest at Veterans Memorial Bridge - 2008

San Francisco Anti-War Protest – March 2008

Students for a Democratic Society march in D.C.’s McPherson Square – March 19 2008

Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans For Peace at the National Archives – March 19 2008

A Wish For Peace

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Why America’s Currency Is the World’s Problem

June 26, 2008 at 8:49 am · Filed under On Economics, On Politics

November 30, 2007

The ailing US economy seems to be driving the exchange rate of the dollar inexorably downward, with serious consequences for the global economy. Politicians and central bankers are looking on helplessly as the economic outlook worsens by the day and European companies rack up huge losses.

Click here to read the the complete article on Spiegel Online International.

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Report: Justice Dept. passed over Dems, liberals

June 26, 2008 at 1:18 am · Filed under Criminal Justice, On Education, On Politics, On Power

Associated Press, Issue Date: 6/25/08

WASHINGTON (AP) – Ivy Leaguers and other top law students were rejected for plum Justice Department jobs two years ago because of their liberal leanings or objections to Bush administration politics, a government report concluded Tuesday.

In one case, a Harvard Law student was passed over after criticizing the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. In another, a Georgetown University student who had previously worked for a Democratic senator and congressman didn’t make the cut.

Even senior Justice Department officials flinched at what appeared to be hiring decisions based – improperly and illegally – on politics, according to the internal report.

To read more at the Daily Iowan, click here.

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Done! Wooh!

June 26, 2008 at 12:43 am · Filed under Criminal Justice, On Education, On Personal Development

Another term completed! And hopefully the last of my courses, assuming all that’s left is the Senior Thesis project. Oh, but I welcome that after so many years of striving to get this damn Bachelors degree. Nine years, on and off. My first semester was fall of 1999 while living down south. So much has changed since then and it will be a relief to have one major goal achieved at last. :)

The second major in Criminal Justice will be dropped I’ve decided. No need in keeping it since there’s no chance I’ll be working for the government or in law enforcement. lol Of course I knew that starting out. It’s interesting course material that I highly recommend to others, especially those with a more “radical” mindset (in terms of getting to the root of the problem, not necessarily “extremism”) and a strong commitment to work toward positive change in all fields of life. Learning about advancements in criminal justice gives a person a better idea of the socio-political system we as a society have created and are finding ourselves increasingly up against. The vantage point from within this field is advantageous to the sociology buff, with it providing the bridge between the social sciences and law studies, all the while explaining the complexities of the primary mechanism for social control in our communities.

Some of my professors, in criminal justice and other social science fields, have truly expanded my way of thinking after having breathed life into abstract concepts and helping us to make connections we otherwise might have remained ignorant to. Teachers, instructors and professors can truly be blessings in the lives of the curious. The good ones truly deserve more of our respect. They certainly do.

While I only lack three more courses (plus another senior thesis project) toward having my double-major, it just doesn’t make sense to continue forward with it. I’ve learned so much thus far and now know where to look to learn more in the future. Why pay for a degree you have no intention of using? So, it’s back to basics. Back to Social Science all by itself. Perhaps the criminal justice coursework completed up to now will satisfy the requirements for a minor instead.

But what truly has me tickled this evening is this means I will graduate sooner than expected by about 5 months.  Sweet!  I can live with that. ;)

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A stressful evening

June 25, 2008 at 1:35 am · Filed under On Prostitution, On Self-Expression

Well, I turned in the report and gave my presentation.  Giving speeches is NOT my strong point.  God, I get so nervous.  My stomach gets tied in knots and the nerves don’t settle down until hours afterwards.  Ugh.

Tomorrow another paper is due, which hasn’t even been written yet.  Gotta love procrastination.  Bleh.  So that will fill the hours tonight.  Plus there’s a final exam and presentation due on top of that.  If this is the last exam I take for many moons, I will be one happy chiquita.

What really has me stressed tonight is my client, the only holdover from days gone by.  It appears we’ve reached an impasse, with him believing my time is apparently no longer worth much and me feeling frustrated as a result.  Promises of future reimbursements have grown tired and it appears that maybe the joke is on me.  That’s what I get for agreeing to an informal arrangement, right?  Well, he seemed different for a while there.  Like someone who could be trusted.  Maybe.  Ah well.  Maybe not.  When I have to call to nag about nonpayment, it’s never a pretty sight.  But in all honesty, it’s probably destined to end regardless.  In his presence, rather than feeling truly comfortable and cared for, I feel misunderstood and censored.  Now, typically when you see a client it’s basically agreed that you will censor yourself to suit their comfort, but this arrangement was supposed to be different.  It was supposed to be more mutually beneficial.  Not a ‘true’ dating relationship (since he’s married), but a situation where we both could seek solace from our problems and angst.  He no longer wished to be considered a client, and I no longer wanted to be limited by the role of “provider.”  Seems that neither of us got our wish…

When we attempt conversation, he becomes defensive easily, leading me to become defensive in return.  So we start off with our guards up, unable to truly reach one another, incapable of understanding the life the other lives.  He struggles and suffers quietly; my pain is no secret.  We desire something neither of us is getting from the other.  He needs comfort in the form of playfulness and ego-stroking to create a diversion from home issues; I need comfort in the form of a caring, open-minded friend who can provide a safe space to vent life’s frustrations.  Times are not good in either direction, it seems.

I do genuinely care for the man, but the finances are tight and I can’t pay the rent with empty promises.  This is my job, and perhaps we’d do better to keep that in mind.  The idea of having a ‘friend’ to stop by for play and a romp sounded like a good idea at first, until it became noticeably one-sided.  The companionship is lacking, which wouldn’t normally be such a big deal if not for the fact that I haven’t been fairly compensated and we’ve begun bickering over the last few days.

*sigh*  He reminds me of someone I used to know sometimes…

This is the difficulty with escorting: attachments happen. Disillusionment follows when you make the mistake of viewing the arrangement outside of the context in which it was originally intended.

Then again, that’s probably a tad harsh.  But there is one rule I do agree with after having learned it the hard way once before (and being warned plenty): Do not entertain the idea of seriously dating a client.  The relationship is doomed from the start thanks to the bullshit culture we live in.  It’s a surefire way to wind up with a broken heart (or two).  Not always, but often enough to justify the rule.  Especially if he was married when you first met him.  It’s no way to start off a true romance.  A long period of friendship between those two stages seems likely the only way it could work.

But what do I know?

He has been sweet to me though.  Perhaps I ask for too much in this equation.

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A Productive Weekend

June 23, 2008 at 2:53 am · Filed under Criminal Justice, On Education, On Personal Development, On Politics, On Power

Saturday night the paper for my Criminology course was finally completed after weeks of procrastination. The topic, you ask? H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, of course. I also worked on the PowerPoint presentation for this class, which is now 95% complete. The topic predominantly relates to the U.S. PATRIOT Act but also incorporates elements of the “Homegrown Terrorist Act” (as I call it) and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. So glad to have that behind me. Now, just one more paper left for this term…sigh…

So, while screwing off this afternoon I came across an interesting debate from the Federalist Society on the case of Boumediene v. Bush. Just something I happened across related to the supposed “enemy combatants” detainees in Guantanamo Bay, going on 6 years now without proof being established.  You can read the Supreme Court decision here.

Here’s the Washington Post story covering the outcome of the case. It’s comforting knowing that not everything the Bush administration suggests receives a rubber stamp of approval.

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One Nation Under Siege

June 22, 2008 at 4:14 am · Filed under Criminal Justice, On Anti-Corporate Personhood, On Body & Health, On Economics, On Education, On Imagination, On Media & Propaganda, On Military Matters, On Music, Film and FolkArt, On Politics, On Power, On Religion & Beliefs, On Technology & Science, On Violence ·Tagged , , ,

I just finished watching the documentary “One Nation Under Siege“, which I highly recommend. If only as food for thought. (Click the link to watch it in its entirety)

This documentary went a bit further than many and made connections that I had otherwise not seen noted. However, much of what is included relates back to links in earlier posts (see the What’s Wrong With Us, Fellow Americans? postings below). While this documentary does require a bit of imagination, even without sliding all way down the slippery slope we can see that change is on the way, and evidence points to it not favoring the American people. Even the mainstream media paints a bleak picture and we know that’s only the half of it.

So, I say watch this film and try to keep an open mind even if some of the proposed scenarios do seem a bit far-fetched. A few struck me that way as well, but it’s still worth viewing.

Oh, and you might want to skip through the commercials in the beginning. Just a head’s up.

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A Quote

June 20, 2008 at 12:38 am · Filed under On Power, On Self-Expression

MLK Quote

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Ramblings on Labels & Power

June 19, 2008 at 9:24 pm · Filed under On Personal Development, On Power, On Prostitution, On Race & Ethnicity, On Radical Feminism-Humanitarianism, On Religion & Beliefs, On Self-Expression

As stated previously, my concerns and irritation right now have less to do with the actions of our government and much more to do with the relative inaction of the people. Governments are bound to become corrupt eventually. Power corrupts. It’s only to be expected in a hierarchal socioeconomic structure for people to resort to nasty tactics to undermine one another’s efforts to secure a larger chunk of the pie for themselves. Despicable that it continues to happen from each generation, century and eon to the next, but nevertheless a reality of the world we live in at this point in history. It’s not shocking that the thirst for power should corrupt our leaders…it seems quite logical that it would do so without sufficient checks and balances actively in place.

One source of my frustration lies with the people and our/their reaction to these sorts of abuses “from above.” Our willingness to not only roll over and take what comes our way, but to even go further and learn to revel in this absent-minded sense of superiority, claiming the spoils of the victors as our own (though they clearly are not) is a sign of corruption in the masses. From my vantage point there appears to be this nearly universal desire to escape reality by simply denying its existence.

(Now, I’m not referring here to my earlier (massive) 5-part posting since I am not in a position to claim any of that as 100% accurate; it was only intended as a means to create a dialogue and to share information not routinely found in the mainstream channels. Or at least not out in the open nearly to the extent that the ’spun’ versions are. Those weren’t my words or ideas necessarily, though I do heed them.)

No, my point here is not whether people agree with me as I’m well used to them not, but that they at least be willing to think outside the box at times. And by box, we really mean programming via popular media and history books written by those declared the victors. My personal frustration stems from being surrounded by what most refer to as apathy. I call it ethical and moral laziness. The reason it is so troubling is because it is so self-defeating in that it sets up an unavoidable self-fulfilling prophecy.

People cry when the prophecy is fulfilled and shake their hands in the sky and blame one another, blame a god, blame a government, for what they accept as a travesty committed against the innocent (i.e. – themselves since the innocence of the opposition is generally deemed irrelevant). Then they cloak themselves with religious scripture and/or the national flag and vow revenge at a future date, making it possible for the whole damned cycle to repeat again someday.

When we’re up and the future looks bright for plenty, we shun those who struggle, blaming them for their own inability to overcome adversity and poverty, pretending as though our own boots aren’t responsible (if only partially) for kicking and keeping them down in that lowly position we profess to despise so much.

All while loudly professing our own innocence. (Whether smugly or naively.)

I struggled with this whole concept a great deal while working as a prostitute, and it continues to plague my thoughts. The prostitute is in a ’special ‘position in most societies, regardless of the income bracket she may fall under or how beautiful or intelligent she may be, where no matter how hard she wishes to be taken seriously, she never will be. You are denied human equality because you are a ‘whore’, which is to mean you belong on the bottom rung of the social hierarchy, out of view of decent society, cut off from social comforts and loving relationships you might otherwise have access to. Even if you come into it with an open heart and mind, loving the job and all it entails, enjoying the company of others and the mutually beneficial arrangement that’s been created, you’re still declared a ‘whore’, which by public definition translates into ‘ human trash.’ A despicable human being not worthy of breathing the air more ‘dignified’ people lay claim to. Trash. Hooker. Temptress. Heathen. Words I’ve come to know well (though not from the tongues of my clients but from strangers and supposed friends and lovers.)

Ho. Slut. Stripper. Transient. Illegal alien. Welfare-recipient. Redneck. Hillbilly. Fat. Fag. Queer. Atheist. Gimp. Retard. Drug-user. Drug-dealer. Hoodlum. Imbecile. Infidel. Adulterer. Bitch. Negro. Chink. Wetback. Jap. Camel-jockey. Raghead. (Terrorist?)

And on and on go the epithets and labels to help us feel better about who we are and where we stand in the social arena, both here and abroad. What’s really striking is it is almost always justified by a vague interpretation of some obscure passage in a religious text. It almost makes you wish to do away with all religion if this is its inevitable outcome and common usage. But I’m learning not to blame the religions, nor the common underlying positive messages that they share, just because of distortions made possible through our narrow-minded interpretations.

Isn’t it amazing how hurtful these words really are when directed in anger or contempt? They cease being “just words” when used to subjugate entire groups or collectives of people, cutting clear to the quick and diminishing a person’s own sense of self-worth.

It’s in dealing with that sort of senseless abuse that I began to understand the nature of humans and the hierarchy we’re intent on living within. There can be no top without a bottom. No up without a down. No privilege without a sacrifice. No glory without conquest. The winners and losers. But much of it is artificial and nonsensical, cloaked in perverted scripture so that we may feel better about ourselves and our status within the human social pyramid. It’s a work of fiction that we collectively create and perpetuate with our thoughts, actions and words, but nothing more. To protect ourselves from the boot of another, we kick someone else in order to maintain some sense of equilibrium and to protect ourselves from that sickening feeling deep down inside signaling that perhaps we too aren’t all that special either. I am no less than my fellow human and, likewise, no more. “When the sun rises, it rises for everyone.” To admit that, on a large scale, would be the first step toward making sense of the world we live in.

Cheat. Liar. Hypocrite. Ignorant. Manipulator. Self-righteous.

These labels and descriptions are often handed out haphazardly without enough scrutiny as to their actual meaning. You know why? Because they describe all of us and represent a leveling of the proverbial playing field; as in, Kettle meet Pot. Scrutinizing our own selves just won’t do. Much better to focus on those “others,” a category of which we appear to be obsessed with that is virtually bottomless and all-encompassing.

It’s all a sham. A game. A hoax. An option. Even if it were written in stone that one human (or group of humans) should be held at a higher status than all others that doesn’t make it true, just, or realistically sustainable. Hence the many revolutions, retaliations, protests and strikes illuminated throughout the ages and to assuredly follow in all of history to come.

What good comes from dismissively labeling people we don’t know or currently understand? Does it bring us closer to or further from achieving positive results?

“Words not only affect us temporarily; they change us, they socialize or unsocialize us.” — David Riesman

“We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” — Jonathan Swift

“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” — Anne Lamott

“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” — Coretta Scott King

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