I haven't written for a while, just been way to busy with other stuff. Its not that I haven't been listening or thinking about what's going on, but nothing that has been happening has led me to need to write. Some topics I have been considering writing about are:
1. Why are neither of these candidates really talking about the suspension of constitutional rights? Habeas Corpus? Patriot Act? Torture? Extraordinary Rendition? Yeah I've heard some superficial talk about these things but I don't think either of the candidates has really laid down the gauntlet and said they would purge these horrible Bush policies.
2. McCain has a clear misogynistic streak and the choice of his wife and Palin are evidence of it.
3. The psychological factors that lead one to be on the right vs. on the left. That is conservatives have an underlying paranoid personality - the belief that the world is a dangerous place from which you have to protect yourself. Liberals have an underlying depressive personality style that leads to feeling more responsible for the human condition and the fantasy that things can be better through human acts. These positions are not of course comprehensive and people land on a continuum, but they lead one to see the world in a very different ways and thus guide your positions on how the world works. There is also the way these two positions relate to authority. Of course the paranoid position tends to be suspicious and rejecting of authority in a fundamental way. The depressive position seeks for authority to do something about it all. Another factor in this who issue is that the paranoid position stems basically from fear and the depressive position stems more from resignation/helplessness. Again the repercussions for how you see the world and governmental policies are enormous. The other thing that one has to address when talking about psychological effects, and this goes largely ignored in media discussions about psychological issues, is that each position also has a paradoxical effect. That is, each position also in engenders fantasies about and wishes for a powerful authority that will swoop in and take care of everything for you. This is where we get the fantical fascist tendencies in the right wing and the socialistic/communistic tendencies on the left. What confuses these issues so much is that when either position becomes too extreme, the outcome becomes the same - the radical who seeks for government to leave them alone engenders a government that becomes all controlling.
4. I've have accepted that I am quite suspicious that electronic voting machines have been part of the election problem. In fact a relative of mine told me that when she voted in 2004, she knows she voted for Kerry but when she checked her vote the machine indicatd that she voted for Bush. This is just one incident and there have been reports of many others. It seems conceivable to me that if John McCain wins this election despite poll numbers still giving Obama a wide margin of victory up to election day and in exit polling, there could be some more significant social unrest than has been seen in the past. I say conceivable because US elections have been remarkably peaceful up until now. We'll see what happens. I need to make sure my passport is up to date!
5. I have always felt that despite the poll numbers it is likely that McCain will win because I have little faith in the American people to make the correct choices (they have not for decades). If you look at the polls the numbers for McCain are still around 43% - there is that number again that I talked about in RANT (see below). The 42, 43% number of Americans who are the ones who vote and are right wing. This is of course not the whole picture since only about half of the eligible voters vote in any given election. Who are the other 50%? They are the ones with learned helplessness, not caring or not believing that they have a say. I wonder if you polled these people what their positions would be or if they would have any at all. It seems that the Republicans are trying to disenfranchise voters while Democrats want to get them to vote - doesn't this indicate that these other 50% would lean the country to the left?
That's about it for now.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
DHS and the Patriot Act Become Personal
This is a letter I am planning to write to my congressman, senators, and the Department of Homeland Security/INS/whoever else I can find:
To whom it may concern,
A few months ago there was a news report about the INS holding people for hours with little reason other than superficial suspicions. According to this report, INS officers were extremely rude and did not tell the detainees why they were being held.
I never thought that this would happen to my family. My niece is a Swiss citizen and has been visiting our home between August and December 2008. On October 6, 2008 my 19 year old niece was returning from a 5 day trip to Mexico to visit her friend. Her port of entry was Houston, Texas. As she passed through customs she was tagged and escorted to a separate room. She was taken to a room where there were several other people waiting to be interviewed. She was not told why she was taken out of the line. She was not told how long the wait would be. She had 30 minutes until her connecting flight to Newark was scheduled to leave. The DHS agent who initially looked at her passport flagged her after asking how long she would be in the United States. (include all the details here). Another agent came to the desk and, without any explanation, took her to a separate office where she was ordered to wait with several other detainees. My niece waited about 10 minutes and was called over to another desk where she was interrogated, questioned about all the details of her trip and how long she would be in the United States. The officer then, with no additional explanation, asked her to wait. My niece was getting more and more nervous because she was now going to miss her flight. She was again summoned to the desk, this time her belongings were searched. The officer became ruder and more intimidating while he asked her about a name she had written down in her purse, a letter she wanted to post from the United States, and other items in her bags. After this second round of interrogation, my niece was asked to sit down again while the officer consulted with another officer in the room. My niece was again summoned to the desk and then allowed to leave. In her own words, this is how the experience effected her:
"It’s not only that I got detained on my way from Mexico back to the United States. What also made me very angry was how they treat you. English is not my mother language as the people who are working there should’ve seen this by my Swiss passport. Nevertheless, the woman at the border control was very unfriendly when I had to ask her for some words twice or three times. Without any comprehension of my situation. And also the man who was working on my case. Of course he told me what he wanted to know when I didn’t understand the question, but in a way that I had the feeling I am really stupid. There were other people waiting in the office, among them a woman with a kid. A worker asked suddenly who the child belongs to and looked at the first row, directing to a man. He thought that he has to go to the desk and stood up and then she asked again and he was confused. Perhaps he didn’t spoke English as his mother language. Then the mother said that it’s her child and the woman at the desk said without any respect and in a way you speak to dog that the man has to sit back down and that she wasn’t talking to him and why is he standing there. I felt really dirty in there and as if I did something wrong or I am a criminal. When I came out of the office and called my aunt, I just cried because it was so overwhelming and too much for me. I was shocked and also sad because I thought that I have to go back to Switzerland now."
I was shocked and disturbed by these events and I could not believe that my niece would be treated in this manner by our country. A nineteen year old young woman traveling alone on a Swiss passport could not possibly be a threat. I can understand customs being concerned about drugs or illicit material, but this could have been dealt with by a customs agent and not through a rude and deliberately harassing DHS agent. If this could happen to my young niece, it could happen to any of us. She was violated, harassed, and her rights were taken in a way that was totally unnecessary.
As an American citizen I am outraged by these events. I expect you to take some action to correct this horrible travesty. I do not mean that the particular INS officer should be sanctioned. I believe this is a systemic problem and overcompensation for the events of 911 and the Patriot Act. Please do not respond to this letter with one of your form letters, I will be offended. I would like a direct and personal response to this letter directly from you. Or, I would be happy to meet with you in your Newark, Elizabeth, or Jersey City office so that I can be clear that you are going to take meaningful action.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and I look forward to hearing from you.
To whom it may concern,
A few months ago there was a news report about the INS holding people for hours with little reason other than superficial suspicions. According to this report, INS officers were extremely rude and did not tell the detainees why they were being held.
I never thought that this would happen to my family. My niece is a Swiss citizen and has been visiting our home between August and December 2008. On October 6, 2008 my 19 year old niece was returning from a 5 day trip to Mexico to visit her friend. Her port of entry was Houston, Texas. As she passed through customs she was tagged and escorted to a separate room. She was taken to a room where there were several other people waiting to be interviewed. She was not told why she was taken out of the line. She was not told how long the wait would be. She had 30 minutes until her connecting flight to Newark was scheduled to leave. The DHS agent who initially looked at her passport flagged her after asking how long she would be in the United States. (include all the details here). Another agent came to the desk and, without any explanation, took her to a separate office where she was ordered to wait with several other detainees. My niece waited about 10 minutes and was called over to another desk where she was interrogated, questioned about all the details of her trip and how long she would be in the United States. The officer then, with no additional explanation, asked her to wait. My niece was getting more and more nervous because she was now going to miss her flight. She was again summoned to the desk, this time her belongings were searched. The officer became ruder and more intimidating while he asked her about a name she had written down in her purse, a letter she wanted to post from the United States, and other items in her bags. After this second round of interrogation, my niece was asked to sit down again while the officer consulted with another officer in the room. My niece was again summoned to the desk and then allowed to leave. In her own words, this is how the experience effected her:
"It’s not only that I got detained on my way from Mexico back to the United States. What also made me very angry was how they treat you. English is not my mother language as the people who are working there should’ve seen this by my Swiss passport. Nevertheless, the woman at the border control was very unfriendly when I had to ask her for some words twice or three times. Without any comprehension of my situation. And also the man who was working on my case. Of course he told me what he wanted to know when I didn’t understand the question, but in a way that I had the feeling I am really stupid. There were other people waiting in the office, among them a woman with a kid. A worker asked suddenly who the child belongs to and looked at the first row, directing to a man. He thought that he has to go to the desk and stood up and then she asked again and he was confused. Perhaps he didn’t spoke English as his mother language. Then the mother said that it’s her child and the woman at the desk said without any respect and in a way you speak to dog that the man has to sit back down and that she wasn’t talking to him and why is he standing there. I felt really dirty in there and as if I did something wrong or I am a criminal. When I came out of the office and called my aunt, I just cried because it was so overwhelming and too much for me. I was shocked and also sad because I thought that I have to go back to Switzerland now."
I was shocked and disturbed by these events and I could not believe that my niece would be treated in this manner by our country. A nineteen year old young woman traveling alone on a Swiss passport could not possibly be a threat. I can understand customs being concerned about drugs or illicit material, but this could have been dealt with by a customs agent and not through a rude and deliberately harassing DHS agent. If this could happen to my young niece, it could happen to any of us. She was violated, harassed, and her rights were taken in a way that was totally unnecessary.
As an American citizen I am outraged by these events. I expect you to take some action to correct this horrible travesty. I do not mean that the particular INS officer should be sanctioned. I believe this is a systemic problem and overcompensation for the events of 911 and the Patriot Act. Please do not respond to this letter with one of your form letters, I will be offended. I would like a direct and personal response to this letter directly from you. Or, I would be happy to meet with you in your Newark, Elizabeth, or Jersey City office so that I can be clear that you are going to take meaningful action.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and I look forward to hearing from you.
Disingenuous Hypocrites
When men like David Brooks write that “Republican political tacticians decided to mobilize their coalition with a form of social class warfare”, though its true, it strikes me as disingenuous and too little too late. David Brooks has written so much pro neo-conservative commentary over the years (e.g. his praise of Palin’s debate performance, the BoBo book) that it is unbelievable that he would have finally come to this conclusion. This is like Andrew Sullivan coming to the very belated conclusion that Bush was bad, even though he sang his praises in 2000 and 2004 (I think).
These types of commentaries (and the many other conservative bemoaning of late – Fred Barns, George Will) indicate a deep fear within the republican conservative/neo-conservative party. Hopefully they are in their death throws. However, it is unlikely that they will truly take psychological responsibility for all of the horrible policies they have foisted upon the country. David Brooks is absolutely right that it has been the Republicans who are engaged in Class Warfare (though they of course feel that the class warfare began with social security, welfare, the new deal, great society, and other progressive movement policies). The Republicans have been so tunnel-visioned in their pursuit of these policies that they are unable to account for the failures other than blaming the system for not really trying their ideas fully. (Though to me, as I have written before, are ideals which can never really be fully implemented). The death throws are a relief to see, but why have we had to go through this entire cycle of self-destruction to begin with? There are of course many reasons but one of the central reasons is that human beings have the need to self-destruct. We seem unable to maintain stability within ourselves or within the greater society. We seek out reasons to create problems for ourselves.
A real means for fighting against this has always been the acquisition of knowledge and a memory for history. When those in power want to lead us down the path of self-destruction they devalue education and devalue history. This is precisely what has occurred. David Brooks’ own analysis indicated that the republicans have “Alienated whole professions” and “It (republicans) has lost the educated class by sins of commission – by telling members of that class to go away.” And Brooks concluded “Republicans developed their own leadership style. If democratic leaders prized deliberation and self-examination then republicans would govern from the gut.” Aside from the problem of Brooks semantics – calling educated people a class – he is absolutely right. There has been a total devaluation of being educated, smart, sophisticated in ones thinking, and mindful of history. The fact is that it is the conservative ideology that logically leads to these types of tactics, though right wing thinkers cannot accept this basic truth. Brooks asserted that original thinkers in the conservative movement did not devalue these things and the movement was taken over by those who did, or at least used these means to win power. To me it does not matter, it is the logical conclusion of such an ideology to lead to these kinds of problems. Actually, it reminds me of my hundreds of interviews with gang members while working in state prisons and how street gang members (Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, and others) talk about their gangs. They say that it all started with a good idea – that if society were not going to care for them then they would care for themselves. Then they bemoan the way the idea was implemented. The problem with this reasoning is that fending for themselves could never work because they are part of a greater society that would not tolerate such behavior. Then the gangs had to turn into criminal organizations in order to function, and then they turned into plagues on the very society they were “meant” to uplift. Then they created their own history (completly distorted) and version of reality. The gang member cannot accept that it was the very ideology that led to these problems in the first place. This is precisely what has occurred in the Republican party/conservative movement. They cannot perceive how their original ideas were so fundamentally flawed that the inevitable result would be economic and social tragedy. The same thing happened in the early 20th century that led to the great depression and will likely happen again because no matter how many times we say it, history repeats itself and people do not learn from history - especially when they forget it or are never taught it or just plain ignore it because their ideology blinds them to it.
These types of commentaries (and the many other conservative bemoaning of late – Fred Barns, George Will) indicate a deep fear within the republican conservative/neo-conservative party. Hopefully they are in their death throws. However, it is unlikely that they will truly take psychological responsibility for all of the horrible policies they have foisted upon the country. David Brooks is absolutely right that it has been the Republicans who are engaged in Class Warfare (though they of course feel that the class warfare began with social security, welfare, the new deal, great society, and other progressive movement policies). The Republicans have been so tunnel-visioned in their pursuit of these policies that they are unable to account for the failures other than blaming the system for not really trying their ideas fully. (Though to me, as I have written before, are ideals which can never really be fully implemented). The death throws are a relief to see, but why have we had to go through this entire cycle of self-destruction to begin with? There are of course many reasons but one of the central reasons is that human beings have the need to self-destruct. We seem unable to maintain stability within ourselves or within the greater society. We seek out reasons to create problems for ourselves.
A real means for fighting against this has always been the acquisition of knowledge and a memory for history. When those in power want to lead us down the path of self-destruction they devalue education and devalue history. This is precisely what has occurred. David Brooks’ own analysis indicated that the republicans have “Alienated whole professions” and “It (republicans) has lost the educated class by sins of commission – by telling members of that class to go away.” And Brooks concluded “Republicans developed their own leadership style. If democratic leaders prized deliberation and self-examination then republicans would govern from the gut.” Aside from the problem of Brooks semantics – calling educated people a class – he is absolutely right. There has been a total devaluation of being educated, smart, sophisticated in ones thinking, and mindful of history. The fact is that it is the conservative ideology that logically leads to these types of tactics, though right wing thinkers cannot accept this basic truth. Brooks asserted that original thinkers in the conservative movement did not devalue these things and the movement was taken over by those who did, or at least used these means to win power. To me it does not matter, it is the logical conclusion of such an ideology to lead to these kinds of problems. Actually, it reminds me of my hundreds of interviews with gang members while working in state prisons and how street gang members (Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, and others) talk about their gangs. They say that it all started with a good idea – that if society were not going to care for them then they would care for themselves. Then they bemoan the way the idea was implemented. The problem with this reasoning is that fending for themselves could never work because they are part of a greater society that would not tolerate such behavior. Then the gangs had to turn into criminal organizations in order to function, and then they turned into plagues on the very society they were “meant” to uplift. Then they created their own history (completly distorted) and version of reality. The gang member cannot accept that it was the very ideology that led to these problems in the first place. This is precisely what has occurred in the Republican party/conservative movement. They cannot perceive how their original ideas were so fundamentally flawed that the inevitable result would be economic and social tragedy. The same thing happened in the early 20th century that led to the great depression and will likely happen again because no matter how many times we say it, history repeats itself and people do not learn from history - especially when they forget it or are never taught it or just plain ignore it because their ideology blinds them to it.
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