Comfortably Numb: The Great Malaise

THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES – DISSEMINATE FREELY.

By Jack Random


Another 19 dead, another young idealistic journalist held captive, another message from the world’s leading terrorist, another equivocation from a Senator campaigning for president, another cliché from the White House, and the distinct feeling that no one is listening, no one is watching, no one is feeling what is happening on the ground in the land of ancient wonders.

Have we become comfortably numb?

We must remember Marla Ruzicka, the young care worker gunned down on the road to the Baghdad airport. Remember how we felt when our emotions were still intact. There have been others, many others – journalists, care workers, observers, contractors – but there is something especially disturbing about the young and gifted. These are individuals with so much honest compassion that they risked the rest of their lives and all the promise, hope and dreams a full life entails.

There is no rational reason we should feel more deeply for Jill Carroll and Marla Ruzicka than we do for so many others, for literally thousands of young and idealistic Iraqis or coalition soldiers. There is no rational reason that one particular life should tear at our hearts so profoundly that we turn away and refuse to look back.

Some will find absurd reasons to dismiss the tragedy: She knew what she was getting into. Go to Baghdad, what do you expect? Walk into the lion’s den and you can’t be surprised when you don’t walk out.

Such rationalizations contribute to our malaise. With every employment, they make us less human, less admirable, less virtuous and less likely to stand up in outrage against a criminally insane war.

Another soldier back from Iraq committed suicide the other day. His name was Douglas Barber. He appeared on Doug Basham’s radio show out of Las Vegas. He served in Iraq on a supply convoy between the Baghdad airport and the American military base in Balad. Upon his return, he joined Iraq Veterans Against the War.

The police rushed to his home, sirens blaring and ambulance lights splashing memories of wartime bloodshed on a crowd of onlookers, but the national media were not there. To my knowledge, it was never mentioned on CNN, MSNBC, Fox or the networks. Apparently, it did not have the appeal of a coal mining disaster, a demolition or a high-speed chase. Douglas Barber was just another soldier, another untold casualty of war.

Have we become comfortably numb?

A friend of mine hypothesizes that those jets we so frequently see laying out trails in the morning and evening skies are actually seeding the air we breathe with a drug that breeds malaise.

Maybe he’s right.

Does anybody care?

Is anybody out there?

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON DISSIDENT VOICE, THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH AND PEACE-EARTH-JUSTICE.

Jake's Word: The West Virginia Mining Disaster

[Jake Berry's response to "Surrealistic Pillow: The West Virginia Mining Disaster" posted on Dissident Voice 1/7/06.]

Yet another vigilant and enlightened piece. I'm glad you brought up Ace In The Hole. I thought of it, too, when I saw the media descend upon the Sago mines. I couldn't remember the name of the movie, but it's a impossible film to forget because it so accurately depicts the excess of media as they transmute freedom of speech into freedom to exploit. And there was handsome Anderson Cooper, son of Gloria Vanderbilt, just like handsome Kirk Douglas, informing us of all the latest developments, speaking so emphatically that you can actually hear him draw a breath between sentences.

Democracy is in trouble indeed. The Abramoff turn suggests that there may yet be something to save and a way to save it, but its like stepping into a nest of vipers - will they wriggle away before the light hits them or will they bite you and inject you with the same poison that has saved them in the past? And there's the Bush spying scandal that was so deftly turned on its head to become a search for the guy who ratted him out - and the media followed. It is as you say. They do not report the news, they deliver sensation. They do not inform, they stimulate. I remarked to my wife a couple of weeks ago that the media seem to seek out the stories that will stimulate the fight or flight mechanism. You're either scared or angry - it doesn't matter to them. What they want is your attention. That's money to them, and money is the game.

It's always about resources. Too little or too much and how to resolve the excess or deficit. Either way, someone is bound to get hurt, usually at the business end of military weaponry.

We're close, very close, maybe eleven months close to the final test of democracy in America. Will people respond and use the vote to overturn the tables and send the thieves running, or will they be driven, by fear or anger, one last time into propping the status quo. If they choose the latter we will have to look elsewhere for any support for individual freedoms, civil liberties, or anything resembling a government of, by, and for the people.

How intoxicated are we? How long will the adrenal glands survive this continual manipulation before they collapse and take the body politic down with them? We shall see.

Ezra Pound, great poet, arrogant bigot and fool, was often wrong, but in his cantos he writes, "Fear God and the ignorance of the populace." As usual he was only half right. We have nothing to fear from God, regardless of the reality (or not) of his existence, but an ignorant populace is a dangerous animal - the most dangerous on the planet. As Jimmy wZ said, "Mass consciousness is dangerous."

We're dancing in the lion's jaws, brother (quoting Bruce Cockburn now), by the time of the next winter solstice we'll find out if there's anything left to save.

Jake Berry - Author of Brambu Drezi
[See Jake's blog: 9thstlab.blogspot.com]

Jack Random's Top Ten on Buzzle.com 2005

The following are the most read articles posted by Jack Random on Buzzle.com in 2005.

1. THE DECLINE OF AMERICA. 2/6/05 (7,211 hits). The writing is on the wall. Under the weight of unfathomable debt, bogged down in a Middle East quagmire, America is in decline. The deck of power is being reshuffled and America’s fall is the world’s gain.

2. HURRICANE KATRINA: PRAYERS FOR NEW ORLEANS. 8/30/05 (5,975 hits). Hurricane Katrina may not be as catastrophic as anticipated but it is far, far worse than at first reported. The levees of Lake Pontchartrain are giving way. Martial Law has been declared. Total evacuation is being considered. New Orleans is under siege.

3. THE POISON PILL: SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM. 2/13/05 (5,622). Cleverly disguised as reform, the rightwing domestic agenda is a prescription for the wholesale destruction of FDR’s New Deal.

4. LINES IN THE SAND: THE IRAQ ELECTION. 2/1/05 (4,068). The Promise Of The Iraq Election: While it is difficult to characterize the election in Iraq as anything but a sham, there is a chance it will mark an end to the occupation.

5. VISION OF THE BLACK ROBES. 1/29/05 (3,803). Jerico Whitehorse has a vision of the black robes bringing destruction to the land of his forebearers. He is visited by the wasichu killing spirit, who attempts to convert him. From the novel: Cries for A Vision (The Killing Spirit).

6. THE FEDERALIST COURT: BLAME THE DEMOCRATS & MOVE ON. 7/20/05 (3,673). Who is Judge John Roberts? A brilliant and ultra-conservative attorney who will rise to a position of elite power at the age of 50. Most importantly, he is a favored son of the Federalist Society and he will be confirmed as the pivotal member of the Supreme Court. Blame the Democrats and move on.

7. COLOR OR CLASS? CHARGES OF RACISM IN DISASTER RELIEF. 9/3/05 (3,641). It is now universally acknowledged that government response to the New Orleans tsunami was tragically inept. Those bearing witness to the ongoing horror could not but observe that the vast majority of the abandoned were black. Inevitably, the question had to be asked: Did race play a role in the government's failure?

8. ON LIBERTY: THE MENDACITY OF GEORGE BUSH. 1/27/05 (3,559). The Inaugural Address: On January 20, President George Bush issued an impassioned call to the cause of Liberty! Thousands of dissidents across the land rose in one voice to reply: You, Mr. President, are no friend to Liberty.

9. THE REPENTANT WARRIOR. 1/12/05 (3,516). An Apache Vietnam veteran struggles to find his footing until he seeks help from a wise elder. From Random Tales (unpublished).

10. THE STONE DREAMERS. 3/9/05 (3,470). In a vision of the Stone Ceremony, Jerico returns to Sand Creek to deliver a warning to Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle. Instead, he receives a lesson. From the novel: Cries for A Vision (The Killing Spirit).

New Year Wishes from Code Pink

by Medea Benjamin

Imagine if, in 2006:

• Every citizen against the war decides to attend a peace vigil.
• Every mother shows up at a recruiters' office and says, "NOT MY CHILD!"
• Every father is brave enough to tell his son "Killing is NOT manly."
• Every teacher teaches conflict resolution to her students.
• Every Christian demands that our government practice the Commandment: THOU SHALL NOT KILL.
• Every anti-war voter refuses to give money, support or votes to pro-war candidates.
• Every student who considers joining the military to pay rising college costs instead joins with other students to demand affordable education.
• Every soldier who has doubts about the mission in Iraq refuses to fight.
• Every congressperson walks, cycles or takes public transportation to work.
• Every American buying a new car chooses a hybrid or biodiesel.
• Every family member of a fallen soldier joins Cindy Sheehan in saying “Honor our sacrifices; stop the killing.”
• Every living veteran, those who best know the agony of war, converges on Washington to demand a Department of Peace.
• Every woman who wants to see a more peaceful world connects with like-minded women of all ages, races, religions and nationalities to demand an end to war. *
• Every citizen who feels lied to about the reasons for invading Iraq demands that George Bush be impeached.

Maybe, together, we could end the occupation of Iraq in the new year and make it harder for future leaders to drag us into unjust wars. When we sow seeds of peace, a whole field of dreams can blossom.

From your sisters at CODEPINK, we wish you a joyful holiday season and look forward to working together in 2006 to make our dreams come true.

Medea Benjamin is Founding Director of Global Exchange. For over twenty years, Medea has supported human rights and social justice struggles around the world. Medea is a leading activist in the peace movement and helped bring together the groups forming the coalition United for Peace and Justice . She is also the co-founder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace, a women's group that has been organizing creative actions against the war and occupation of Iraq. CODEPINK is pushing for a reorientation of budget priorities in the US to focus on heath care, education and housing, not war. Code Pink now has over 250 chapters throughout the United States.

[Published on Thursday, December 29, 2005 by CommonDreams.org]

The Mind of Mansel: Rats & The Devil

The Rats Were Made Hungry

(A line from Joseph LeDoux’s book, Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Became Who We Are)

(The sheep have fled and the root of the tree is covered in mucus, mucus from a severed limb addict who pledged to free the lost from Iraqi prisons with force. He stumbled over the best of the brightest; he kept copies notes and took all precautions, then)

Fox News and their embedded (read here for editorial reasons the name of the individual who opposed any right to freedom by interdicting his own racist hatred for the olive skin) Oliver North as he pranced in front of the camera calling the troops out for yet another interview. It was difficult to tell whether or not North would be the target of friendly fire or just saddle sores on his non-dimpled chin from trying to swallow too many belt buckles. One soldier withstood the groping hand of North as he prodded the young Filipino like a heroin addict at sunrise job interview. The soldier immediately attacked the cameraman once the satellite feed ended, kicking the man in the face he had to spit at North to keep him from staring up his pants leg.

Back in New York Sean Hannity liquored up on a strange concoction berated anyone in sight of a toy store even pimping out salvation Army children to donate the change from their pockets to throw in the washing well located in the crotch of Bill O’Reilly. Rush Limbaugh staggering noisily through Tavern on the Green announced a mistrial in his case as he had buggered the prosecutor with fistfuls of pills he acquired in Key West.

- Chris Mansel


Sympathy For The Devil

A curious biographer some day will force himself into the men’s room of the Bush library and find there amidst the vials of cocaine postmarked from Panama once shredded documents that will reveal a tattered game plan in the handwriting of the devil who had made a deal with the late Prescott Bush to ensure for Bush a life of comfort and the ability to swing death like a komodo with a native son. There would be a few more floors to the library if Prescott had not gone against the devil and decided he would through the descendants of his family be the self-appointed killer of generations.

- Chris Mansel

Response to "The Imperial President"

I read with some amusement your recent bit in Dissident Voice … “Imperial President and the NSA Spying Scandal” … and just ‘had to’ respond.

The gradual erosion of the protections of constitutionalism, the alleged ‘rule of law,’ beginning, I would aver, with the collapse of the Articles of Confederation, is part and parcel of the history of the country. The so-called “Civil” War saw the beginnings of the corporate ownership of government and the beat continues on. To ascribe the recent imbroglio to the current presidency is something like being angry with the taste of apples when the tree was planted long ago – did the planter know what was to come of his ‘unintended’ consequences – or was he malicious in his intent even then? Did the man who created the shovel know to what purpose his tool would be put? Have all presidents, believing in their own self-righteousness not felt constrained by any and all limitations? This one may seem blatant, but look at his predecessors, all. The problem isn’t so much the USE of the NSA as it is the EXISTENCE of the NSA. Is it the tool, or the use of the tool with unintended consequences that matters? The idea of corporations may not in itself be bad … but they too tend to grow more and more prominent over time … and to suffer from fewer and fewer limitations.

I do not wish to defend Bush the ‘man’ – he has not the depth, breadth nor scope to be president of the local Rotary, much less of theUnited States. (In fact it may be easier to elect an idiot at the presidential level than in the local Rotary – they at least know something of their members.) I do intend to ask how such a ‘man,’ with all of his limitations, could become president in the first place? How is it that trusting such a ‘man’ with tools such as the NSA came about in the first place? Are we not, in the final analysis, complicit as Eichmann was complicit in the holocaust? Are we not all sinners by omission in the same way the so-called victims of 9-11 were victims of the US imperial hegemony? Are we not, as Ward Churchill suggested, all a bunch of ‘little Eichmann’s”?

Oh yes, there is an evil in the land – and it is NOT al Queda – it is greed, and ‘going along’ so that we can continue to do better, even the poor, than the rest of the world. There is, I suspect, as much of Bush in you as there is of you in Bush – in all of us – a persistent little selfish nastiness. That nastiness was the sown seed that spawned the NSA and the ability to spy on our own citizens. That nastiness has allowed each of us to buy into the idea that ‘our way of life’ is the one needing to be preserved … and that nastiness is at least as Random as Bush.


Randall H Gaylor, MLS

Four Kids from Nowhere

(Heroes and Enemies in War)

Four kids from an all American town
rusting from a global disease
afflicting only the working class
sign up for the National Guard
four tickets to a college education

Four months later they land in Iraq
fighting a global war
for reasons they will never understand
beyond the pledge of allegiance

Four friends who played football and baseball
and hung out after the final score
talking the talk and building friendships
that would last a lifetime

Four months later a lifetime ends for
one of four and nobody asks: What for?
for duty honor freedom democracy
for babies mothers and summer morns

Four kids from an all American town
a world apart yet together in war
with four from Mosul Baghdad Ramadi
who played soccer and hung out after the score

There are no enemies in Iraq
There are only victims
Heroes if you prefer but victims
just the same.

[See Dissident Voice for Jack Random’s “The Imperial President & The NSA Spying Scandal.]

THE IRAQI DEATH TOLL: 140,000

In response to a rare unscripted question, the president recently acknowledged the death of approximately 30,000 Iraqis as result of the war and occupation.

The general response of the media was to praise the president for his candid admission and to search for the source of his estimate. A consensus emerged that the source was the website Iraq Body Count. Few reports went beyond that revelation to examine the accuracy of the estimate.

As reported by the media-watch group FAIR, the Iraq Body Count provides an extremely conservative estimate of civilian deaths only. The count tallies only those deaths that are reported in the media.

As the reader may recall, the first action in the assault on Fallujah was to seize the local hospital. Hospitals had come under American criticism for releasing information regarding deaths and injuries. The Iraq Body Count, itself, acknowledges that their methodology is designed to provide a low baseline for civilian deaths and that “many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported in the media.” This is particularly true since the purge of independent media from Iraq, including Al Jazeera.

If we assume that the Iraq Body Count underestimates civilian deaths by half, the number rises to 60,000 but it remains limited to civilians. If we further assume that the casualty rate among non-civilians (security forces, military police and insurgents) is at least as high as civilian rates, we arrive at a number that fully confirms the much-criticized estimate of 100,000 deaths by the British medical journal Lancet (10/29/04).

In point of fact, the Lancet study remains the only objective attempt to quantify the Iraqi death toll. If we assume that the casualty rate has remained constant since the Lancet survey over a year ago, we arrive at a number approaching 140,000.

While the media may find fault with such a number, I submit it is eminently more reasonable than the president’s informal estimate.

What does that say for the president’s level of awareness or his compassion for the dead?

NUMBER NINE: In Memory of John Lennon

EXCERPT: NUMBER NINE, A WORK IN PROGRESS.

FADE IN:

EXT. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY – ARIEL VIEW – DAY

Smog and traffic patterns.

The Beatles’ REVOLUTION 9 (White Album) is heard.

INSERT MONTAGE – SOCIAL INSANITY

OJ Simpson, CNN war footage, demonstrations, traffic jams, crime scenes, sporting events, Enron, Martha Stewart.

BACK TO SCENE

ZOOM to a woman in a red convertible speeding down a suburban street. This is RUBY DAULTON, 36, a wild woman, exotic dancer, edgy and sexy.

Fade REVOLUTION 9 to HELTER SKELTER (White Album).

Ruby is intense, worried, with one eye on the rearview mirror. She turns suddenly as she glimpses a blue BMW rounding a corner in the mirror.


Ruby kept busy – picking up, wiping down, stacking dishes, emptying ashtrays, anything – to keep from sitting with the men in her living room. They were uninvited guests, a couple of boys from the office. The office was what they called Ruby’s place of employment. Customers called it Shotgun Slim’s – a stripper bar in the great San Fernando Valley, where the sun always shines and the air is a toxic mix of internal combustion soup.

It was Ruby’s birthday but the boys brought nothing but trouble. They sat in the living room of her small cottage, laughing and posturing over a televised boxing match. She was reminded of the one question that settled in her mind years ago and, like an unwanted relative, never left: What the fuck am I doing here?

It was a long way from the Land of Oz. Ruby knew how she had gotten here. What she did not know and could not have understood if she did was why she had chosen to stay. The old cliché: Habits die hard.

The boys were getting too high, too coked up, and too revved up on televised violence, gin and tonic. A fourth round technical knockout brought them to frenzy and let them down hard. They had little else to do but turn their attentions to Ruby. They won their boxing bets but Ruby was the loser.

As it happened, Ruby had a man. He was the owner of Shotgun Slim’s and these boys were supposed to be his friends and partners – brothers in the vocabulary of the business. She knew what they were about. They would use their highs to excuse their behavior. No excuse would be good enough for Ruby: That she was a woman? That she was not physically strong enough to deter them? Should she take a beating only to suffer the same consequences – only worse?

The truth is she did not like her man any more than she liked his friends. They were all scumbags – little piggy punks with drugs, money and guns.

“What the fuck am I doing here?” she asked aloud as they implored her to come to them.

“Get your ass in here, you sexy fucking bitch!”

They were pawing their groins, laughing and clapping like wild boars circling a ground hog.

Ruby took account and decided to be cool. She left herself behind in the kitchen, along with the memories of who she once was: a kid from Kansas, pretty and popular enough to finish third in the race for Homecoming Queen. Sexy Sadie. Protected from all harm, she hid herself in the closet of her mind, safe behind walls of mental concrete and layers of darkness. She walked out of herself and, like Norma Jean becoming Marilyn, she became Ruby Daulton, queen of the dance floor, star of the stage where the silver phallus is always front and center.

“Tony wouldn’t like this,” she purred. Tony was Antonio Menendez, her man and their boss.

“Tony ain’t gonna hear about it,” replied Little Billy. He was a large man with short hair, ruddy complexion, and bulging biceps. He was known at the office as “the muscle.” Ruby sensed that he hated the boss as much as she did but Tony was clueless.

“Alright then,” she said. “What do you boys want?”

Little Billy grabbed his balls. “Hey, babe, you know what I want!”

He used a remote to click some music on the television. They had prepared something special: a mix from The Beatles’ White Album, beginning with Birthday.

They say it’s your birthday …

Ruby waited as long as she could before beginning the slow movements known as the tease. She was playing along and the boys were content.

Yes we’re going to a party party …

She removed her shoes and was beginning to remove her shirt when the music shifted to Sexy Sadie. Ruby loved Sexy Sadie. It meant more to her than they could ever imagine. She began to move to the rhythm inside. She closed her eyes and began to dance – not the cheap, over-rehearsed dance of the stripper but the dance of the muses of ancient mythology. She danced and the muses wept. She closed her eyes and thought of Dorothy and Kansas and the wizard who was not a wizard and ruby-red shoes on a yellow, brick road. She danced and she imagined fields of golden grass, waves of amber grace, fields of wild flowers, and poppies – glistening white poppies from here to the end of time. She closed her eyes, tapped her heels, and flew away on the wings of angelic beings.

Sexy Sadie, how did you know?
The world was waiting just for you …

When she awakened with a jolt, everything had changed. Sexy Sadie had given way to a blaring Happiness is A Warm Gun. The transition was sudden and disturbing. It was an omen as surely as a crow in the morning or crossing the path of a black cat.

“This is wrong,” she said.

The boys were not convinced. As far as they were concerned, happiness was a warm gun and a sexy woman to help it along.

“Dance, baby! Take it off!”

Ruby turned to the windows at the front of her small cottage and thought she saw the glimpse of a shadow.

“Antonio’s coming,” she said.

“Bullshit, baby, he’s tied up.”

I need a fix ‘cause I’m going down …

Ruby danced on but it was not the same. It was the familiar dance of a stripper on a long and lonely night when men too tired, too drunk, too high and too excited to think pawed the stage and clamored for more. The smell of sweat and spent ejaculations stifled the air and choked away any beauty and grace of the dancer’s performance.

The boys were not content with the pace of Ruby’s tease. They rushed the improvised stage of her living room, ripped the clothes from her body, and forced her to her knees as Ruby kicked, scratched and fought but refused to scream. She would not give them that satisfaction. She would face the demons as she always had. She would be strong – quietly defiant.

A crash at the door, felt more than heard, interrupted them at the height of their excitement. It was Antonio. He was the picture of a jealous man who was tipped off by someone with a personal interest.

Happiness is a warm gun. Bang-bang, shoot-shoot …

Ruby managed to grab her clothes and move to the back of the room. The boys, holding their pants, were trying to explain that it was Ruby’s fault. She was a tease. She seduced them.

Little Billy saw the hatred in Tony’s eyes and knew their words were a waste. It was the rage of a man betrayed by those he had considered his friends, his partners, and his brothers. They rambled on if only to buy time and to let the rage disperse.

“She’ll get hers,” mumbled Antonio. It was all Ruby needed to hear.

Little Billy went for his gun first. It was a futile gesture, the desperate last act of a dead man. Antonio brought the wrath of jealousy and betrayal, the hammer of vengeance down upon their heads. He emptied two handguns, reloaded, and made a point of blowing their faces off.

Ruby escaped. She dashed out the back, ran around the corner, past Antonio’s blue BMW, jumped in her convertible and drove away just as Tony emerged, splattered with blood and looking for his final revenge.

The television survived and played on.

Helter skelter helter skelter …
Will you won’t you want me to make you
I’m coming down fast but don’t let me break you …

Helter skelter helter skelter …
Tell me tell me tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer …

Look out, helter skelter helter skelter …
Look out!

SAVE TOOKIE WILLIAMS! FREE LEONARD PELTIER!
FORGET THE ASSASSIN. REMEMBER JOHN LENNON. IMAGINE.

Howard Dean & The Democratic War Trap

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean made headlines with his interview on a Texas radio station. The media dutifully reported his comment that "the idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is...just plain wrong" and his comparision of Iraq to Vietnam.

Once again, however, if you peel away the antiwar rhetoric, you are left with a position that is anything but antiwar. Dean specifically noted that he was not proposing a withdrawal but a "strategic redeployment over a period of two years." He explores the possibilities of pulling National Guard and Reserves, redeploying to "a friendly neighboring country", and committing an additional 20,000 troops to Afghanistan "where we are welcome."

You could argue that Dean's position is an improvement on the Bush strategy but it is not antiwar. From Dean's strategic redeployment, the future of the war could move in any direction, including escalation, increased air strikes, and expansion into Syria and Iran.

Howard Dean has become the poster boy for Democratic duplicity on the war. They offer us appealing words but the bullets and bombs will continue. They promise us peace -- not today, not tomorrow, but somewhere on a distant horizon.

See "Snookered: The Democratic War Trap" on Peace-Earth-Justice [pej.org] 12/4/05.

Gonzo Lives! From the Mind of Mansel

Washington’s Blue Underground


“Burn down the retinas and shave the ghost!”

Those words came from the oval office as reporters stormed the steps of the White House on Friday. Karl Rove was screaming and swinging a fourteen-pound dumbbell on the desk of the president.

Rove screamed, “I can’t f-cking take it anymore. Three hundred and seventy five Iraqi’s ready for combat? What do we have to do go over there and torture the c-cks-ckers myself? Sh-t!”

Dick Cheney sat in silence mulling over the freckled face of a senate page on loan from Rick Santorum. The page stood nervously, his feet becoming clammy in anticipation and in fear of the result.

The President snorting lines of cocaine quickly answers the phone and is informed of the reporters storming past the Roosevelt room. The formerly retired Sam Donaldson loses his hairpiece in the struggle. Helen Thomas aboard a motorized scooter whizzes past Bob Woodard who was tripped up by a foaming Bill O’Reilly who keeps exposing himself.

Meanwhile in the residence first lady Laura Bush is crouched above a first century pamphlet on sobriety and tries to pick it up by using neither of her hands.

- Chris Mansel

chrismansel.blogspot.com
themanselreport.blogspot.com

STANLEY “TOOKIE" WILLIAMS: The Case Against Capital Punishment

Stanley "Tookie" Williams, co-founder of the Crips gang and convicted murderer, in the absence of the governor’s act of clemency, commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, will be put to death by lethal injection on December 13.

His claim of innocence cannot be summarily dismissed in light of the numerous reversals obtained by revelations of DNA evidence. That our system of justice is flawed has been demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt. Moreover, Williams stands as a rare and classic example of rehabilitation. He has become a powerful spokesperson against the gangster life. He has written children’s books and been nominated for a Nobel Prize.

Aside from the straightforward moral question of whether the state should be engaged in the taking of human lives, the question that must be resolved in all cases of capital punishment is this: Is it in the interest of society?

It is traditionally argued that public safety is the first interest of government. The death penalty is said to serve public safety (a) by assuring that the punished individual will do no further harm and (b) by deterring others from committing crimes that may result in the same fate.

No one denies that society has a legitimate interest in protecting itself from dangerous individuals. Where life imprisonment without parole is an option, however, as it clearly is in the Tookie Williams case, the principle of self-protection is fully served without the death penalty. Moreover, there is a compelling case that Williams’ current work against gangs has saved lives and will continued to do so by leading young people in directions other than the gangster life.

Whether he was rehabilitated by the system or simply by time and his own evolution as a human being, his is a convincing case that rehabilitation is possible. He is not the man he once was.

If there is a deterrent effect in the Williams case, it will happen when he is executed. It will be deterrence against rehabilitation and reform. It will be a very public notice that society places little value in the positive works of a condemned individual. You are the crime and no act of redemption can arrest the decree.

In the interest of society, Tookie Williams should be allowed to continue his writing and his work that may, in some measure, repair some of the harm he caused in his former life.

Society has no interest in killing for vengeance. It is time that the people of all nations moved beyond that guttural, inhumane response. It is time we banished the concept that justice cannot be served and closure cannot be achieved unless blood is spilled.

It is painful to observe the grief-born rage of victim survivors who cannot let go. They seem to believe it is their duty not to let go. They seem to believe that anger will comfort them and revenge will ease their pain. Sadly, they are wrong but they can never admit it for that also would betray their profound grief.

In truth, vengeance may be sweet in the movies but it is only a surface medicine at best. It does nothing to heal the wound or ease the sorrow of loss. The healing can never be initiated by opening another wound.

It is time we accepted what the civilized world has long recognized: The taking of human life by a nation or institution of government is a crime against humanity.

Jazz.

MANSEL RETURNS WITH A LITTLE GONZO

Thundered On The Flesh: New York Stories

The steakhouse smells of shit and the waiters stand in the corners, darkened by the smoke emitting from the kitchen. Donald Rumsfeld is entertaining foreign heads of state, otherwise known as senate pages, and going on and on about the breakdown in communications since the capture of many members of the terror organizations, which were helpful in the C.I.A. drug trade. Robert Novak arrives and begins throwing peppercorns around the room. He stuffs chervil down the V-neck sweaters of the waiters and kicks at the jukebox, which only plays Carol Channing.

A waiter approaches Rumsfeld and explains he has a phone call. Karl Rove is calling and screams about the press outside the restaurant. Rove down the street in a dusty van pecks at the laptop computer and watches surveillance footage of Judith Miller and Jean Schmidt making out under a streetlight on the dark side of an abandoned Maryland highway.

The Machiavellian silence of the press core, the lack of investigative journalism, the reliability of the in-bedded reporters in Iraq twirl on the little finger of the major corporations as they meet in seclusion in New York City. Usually they will just sit around and try to remember who owns what. But today they are discussing whether or not the physical makeup of New Orleans and southern Mississippi will impact their businesses. Business a coy term to explain the root of the term, when you own major corporations and own shares in others your line of influence extends in many directions. You might own the items that fill up the shelves but not the store. You may own the company that supplies the workers but not be responsible for their safety or healthcare costs. It is a high finance way of hiding income out in the open.

The heads of the major corporations who own shares in the three corporations that are shadow companies that supply income and money laundering for the government are in New York mainly to celebrate finally taking the companies public, but soon the real guests arrive. Politicians from both sides of the aisle and both sides of the pond arrive and await information on the status of the new IPO. Members of the current administration keep up to date by phone.

- Chris Mansel

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THANKS & FORGIVENESS

On this day of Thanksgiving, I reflect on the positive changes in my life and the lives of others within my community and beyond, for which I should be grateful. I reflect as well on the dark forces within and without my life that oppose me and that I oppose and wonder if I can find a path to forgiveness.

I thank my family and friends for giving me support and forgiving my missteps, knowing that they are almost always taken with good and pure intent.

I forgive the small betrayals of the communal trust for which there is underlying beneficent intent and pledge that I will look for that intent beyond the sting of perceived, unwarranted abuse.

I thank Congressman John Murtha for initiating the congressional debate that should have been aired before the war began. I thank him for having the courage to learn and change while others cling stubbornly to political postures.

I thank Major Paul Hackett for finally moving to an antiwar position.

I thank Howard Zinn, Kevin Zeese, Tom Hayden, Amy Goodman, Robert Scheer, Noam Chomsky, Mickey Z, Ralph Nader, Robert Jensen, Cynthia McKinney, Barbara Lee, Dennis Kucinich and so many others for standing strong in the cause of peace.

I thank Common Dreams, Dissident Voice, Albion Monitor, Counterpunch, Z Net, Democracy Now and others in the alternative media for giving voice to the antiwar movement.

I forgive Move On and other partisan organizations for failing to find the antiwar ground as they struggle to overcome the politics of pragmatism.

I thank International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice for overcoming their differences in bringing the antiwar movement together.

I thank the people of Spain for finding a more enlightened way to respond to acts of terrorism and for leading European opposition to the Iraq War.

I thank the people of my own nation for finally awakening to the nightmare of the Bush Doctrine.

I thank our soldiers not for their actions in war but for their sacrifice, courage and honor in serving a cause greater than themselves. I thank Kevin Benderman and all the soldiers who have decided they cannot serve an immoral war in good conscience.

I thank people everywhere for caring and giving to the victims of unprecedented catastrophes. If only governments were as enlightened as their peoples.

I thank Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for his opposition to global exploitation and for his bold and generous gift of cheap heating oil to poor American communities.

I forgive those in power who genuinely believed that the policies of austerity (“starving the beast”) and global dominance would somehow serve the greater good, so long as they accept the error of their ways.

I thank all the individuals who have not lost hope, who continue to struggle for peace, justice and the well being of the planet. May I forever count myself among them.

Jazz.

THE GOD OF RANDOM CHANCE

(RANDOM JACK: DISSEMINATE FREELY.)

Beyond dishonesty, there is a logical fallacy underlying the position of those who advocate “Intelligent Design” in the science curriculum of public schools. The dishonesty is their failure to advocate creationism in a straightforward manner. The fallacy is the assumption that Darwinian theory posits a point of origin on earth or in the universe. The very concept of evolution assumes that something existed in order to evolve.

There is no inherent conflict between theories of evolution and the postulates of creation; they are mutually exclusive. The real question is whether one believes in a god of chaos, senselessness, dispersion and chance or a god of order, discipline and law.

I will leave it to others to determine where the various gods – Buddhist, Christian-Judaic, Islamic, Hindu, Zarathustran, Copernican, et al – reside on the continuum between random chance and order. I would only note that the theory of relativity does not allow absolutes in time and space. Therefore, to postulate a point of origin is in conflict with Einstein’s most substantial contribution to scientific theory.

If we allow the creationists to proceed on a path traditionally reserved to scientists, we may find that relativity is called to question and, therefore, nuclear weapons do not exist and Einstein, himself, was nothing more than a mythological being from an alternate universe of pure fantasy.

I am not opposed to discussing “intelligent design” or creationism in the public schools but it should fall under the heading of comparative religions or universal mythology (depending on your persuasion), not under the discipline of science.

Every individual has a right to believe in anything but no one has a right impose a belief that two plus two is less than four.

[See The Albion Monitor or Buzzle.com for the latest Jazzman Chronicle: The Woodward Gambit.]

TARGET SYRIA: The Hariri Assassination

The investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri must go beyond the standard suspicions. Faced with compelling evidence of high-level involvement (i.e., the operation was well planned, well connected and financed), United Nations investigators naturally assumed that Hariri’s political enemies in Syria were responsible.

Maybe they are right but they could very reasonably be wrong as well.

All criminal investigations must begin with the question: Who stands to gain?

Take a hard look at the aftermath of the Hariri assassination and ask yourself: Who gained?

Syria, whose political support in Lebanon is substantial, was forced to withdraw its troops. It faces sanctions from the United Nations and its leaders must be subjected to public scrutiny. In the balance, America and her allies stand poised for military intervention, expanding the war in Iraq.

Who stood to gain from the Hariri assassination: Syria or America? Who has the intelligence and security connections to pull off such an operation? Who has the power and the pull to direct the investigation away from their door and direct it to their enemy?

One must wonder why CIA operatives in the region have not been questioned along with their Syrian counterparts.

American forces have been fighting at the Syrian border for more than a year. Covert operations inside Syria and Lebanon can safely be assumed and cross-border commando raids are a documented fact (NY Times).

Anyone who would sincerely be surprised at America’s hand in a targeted assassination for strategic advantage has not studied the history of covert operations.

[See the Albion Monitor www.albionmonitor.com for The Woodward Gambit, a Jazzman Chronicle by Jack Random.]

Last Words: The Silence of Chris Mansel

The Leviathan Who Fought On His Knees

(for Bob Kincaid)

Ok, they have me now, they have worn me down and tied me to the post and hurled their lies and betrayals, perjuries and their lawbreaking has got me down.... How can anyone in some resemblance of thought watch Scott McClellan and believe anything he says? How can anyone watch our president utter anything at all and watch him quiver, slither his own brand of ka ka and not be flabbergasted? If anyone can honestly say they believe in this administration, avoid them because they may have the bird flu you have heard so much about.

Mine eyes have seen the coming of the fall of the house of Bush. They'll be throwing bodies out the window as the car careens out of control until the election of 2008. I predict sooner rather than later the Saudi Royal family will summon Bush to their creepy lair and scold him for his actions. Called on the carpet though they be on the walls, Georgie Boy will hold hands and stagger cocaine bunches up under his lips and call for a moratorium on cannibals in the U.N. He'll trace the family tree of Dick Cheney back to the original declaration of independence first composed on the Mayflower in blood from a Haitian slave.

Condi Rice will appear in a sex tape with several volleyball players with sand still in their toes. She'll be seen in the fetal position humping a statue of Ronald Reagan and screaming about the troops overlooking Little Big Horn.

Scooter Libby will consult and be visited by G. Gordon Libby and develop contacts in the prison drug trade and be tattooed by the Aryan gangs. Upon release he will start a foundation to study the possibility of promoting commercial prison retreats for the wealthy.

The body of William McNamara upon his death will burst into flames and a million North Vietnamese will run out and devour the body of Henry Kissinger asleep in the front row of the memorial service.

- Chris Mansel

[Editor's Note: The rare and passionate voice of Chris Mansel falls silent this week as he announces the cessation of the Mansel Report. He has answered a greater call in relocating to the great city of New Orleans as it struggles for its soul. We wish you well, Mr. Mansel, and hope that the muse that silences your voice today will deliver its return when it is most needed. Blessings on your journey and gratitude for your testaments of truth.]

The Bird Flu Menace

The Avian flu is real and growing. Either the government knows something we do not or there is another agenda. It is not the nature of this government to anticipate catastrophe and it is even less inclined to invest billions in preventative measures.

If in fact the motive behind the White House initiative is limited to the probability and potential harm of a pandemic, they would be inclined to go about the business of building massive isolation bunkers for the elite. They would do so quietly while publicly expressing a commitment in the multi millions (not billions) and the world would humbly express gratitude.

Now the world may be wondering (as I am) what this is all about. Seven billion is an expensive show of compassion and it stretches the bounds of credulity to accept it on face value.

After considerable thought, running through various scenarios involving quarantine, martial law and military invasion, I have arrived at what I consider a rational hypothesis:

The administration has run out of reasons for invading nations. America is trusted by fewer and fewer on the planet. There are now precious few places in the world where America's clandestine operations are welcome.

Enter the bird flu: The virus mutates into the feared pandemic strain in Malaysia or Indonesia (the most populous Muslim nation on earth). For the first time, it spreads from human to human and the American military (with local cooperation) lays siege, setting up quarantine zones and military lockdown. A team of covert operators accompanies a small army of medical personel rushed to the disaster area. They operate with impunity, interogating whomever they wish, evacuating neighborhoods, searching private homes, offices, mosques and meeting places, searching through private communications and computer files. The potential payoff in the war on terror is considerable. It might even produce the great illusive one: OBL.

Is it beyond imagining? Absolutely not.

Is it far fetched? Let us hope so.

Is it possible? Yes.

(NOTE: See Dissident Voice 11/5/05 for Jack Random's "The Activist Court & The Neoconservative Agenda.")

Show Me The Worms, O Cries Of Despair

From the Mind of Mansel (the Mansel Report):

In the White House tonight they are dismantling the tree house once occupied by Karl Rove through much turmoil. An insider says, "It's like the last days of Hitler's Bunker in there." They're throwing fecal matter at the walls and calling up old markers all the way from the Orient to California. The President has handed out the doses and has locked himself in a sealed chamber with a screaming Condi Rice. Karen Hughes for the first time dressed entirely in military attire stands at the door with a menacing stare.

Over at the Senate and the House the Republican members are standing around 50 gallon oil drums tossing in the paper trail that could end up convicting them if the top positions go down. Several of the elected officials on up in years have to be reminded to take their medication. One congressman starts raving about Bob Dole's campaign running out of steam. Away from the cameras these men become like children pulling at the pigtails of their sons, cursing the drug culture while swigging scotch and puffing tobacco. The foul smell of urine filling depends diapers cannot be avoided as this legislative branch comes into its own.

- Chris Mansel

IRAQI REFERENDUM ON THE OCCUPATION

Astounding numbers have emerged from the British Ministry of Defence. The numbers themselves are not surprising but the fact that they were released to the Sunday Telegraph is (see Common Dreams 10/23/05).

Two and a half years into the occupation:

82% of Iraqis are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops.

72% do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.

67% feel less secure because of the occupation.

45% believe attacks against British and American troops are justified.

43% believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened.

These numbers represent a clear outcome in a referendum on the Iraqi occupation. Combined with a recent poll finding that over 80% of the American public now favors a timetable of withdrawal, the White House can no longer sustain its campaign of endless war on the grounds of democracy. Democracy is the voice of the people and the people have spoken clearly.

You cannot be a liberator if the people you claim to be liberating are overwhelmingly opposed to your presence. You cannot claim the mantle of democracy when your own people oppose you.

The occupying forces (with a proxy Iraqi court) are currently trying the former tyrant of Iraq. If the Iraqi people have their way, the American president will be next in line. If the Plamegate investigation bears fruit, however, they may have to wait their turn.

Random Note 10/23/05.