This probably won’t be that big of an issue in the news because the networks won’t be able to put a red-blue spin on it. It’s bad for American democracy as a whole.

The legal fiction of corporate personhood keeps getting stretched farther and farther. Yesterday the Supreme Court overturned several precedents and ruled part of the 2002 campaign finance reform law to be unconstitutional saying that corporations have the same free speech rights as actual people, and as such the government can not place any restrictions on corporations and labor unions spending money from of their general funds to support of specific candidates.

Companies are not people. They can’t be found guilty of a crime, have no emotions or social connections and don’t fear punishment or ostracism. That’s not criticism of companies. It’s just a fact. They are not people and should not be treated as such.

Corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned; they therefore do as they like.
— Edward Thurlow

There was a huge demonstration in DC today. It made getting on the freeway hell, and the hotel and shops are packed with tea-baggers. It reminded me of why I find hippies so annoying.

I’m all for protest; regardless of your point of view. It’s a good thing. A duty really. Public involvement is needed for a heathy democracy to exist. I even enjoy the loony fringe that turns out at these events. Many people calling Obama a fascist and communist or a Nazi and a Marxist on the same sign without a hint of irony. People wearing an American flag tee-shit carrying a placard saying “Not MY President.” The overwhelming number of Hitler references is troubling, but in general, it’s all good.

The only thing I find annoying about the hippies and tea-baggers is the false sense of self-importance and paranoid sense of persecution. Walking around, I hear a lot of older white folks speaking in thick southern accents saying things like “They tried everything they could, but they could not stop us.” “I think we really have them scared now.”

No one ever seems to know who “them” is, but they are sure that “them” is working very hard in secret ways to prevent “us” from telling “them” what “us” really feel.

At least the hippies had good music.

I was in LA yesterday and took Ami to Pink’s — the best hot dogs on the West coast! A month back, she begged me to take her, but when we actually picked up our order, Ami sat there staring down at her 12″ Jalapeno Dog with a mixture of shock and disgust. After some not so gentle prodding I got her to try it.

For the next several minutes Ami expressed her amazement that Americans could eat such things, at which point she realized that she had finished her dog and reluctantly admitted that it was pretty good.

Another Pink’s fan is born!

It seems Carrie Prejean has landed a book deal. It will be called “Still Standing” released in November of this year. I’ll skip the obvious literacy references, Sara Palin allusions, and comments about pop-up books and get to the heart of the matter.

I really don’t care what her position is on gay marriage, and I can’t understand why some people are upset that she holds them. It’s a free country after all, and she was asked her views and stated them rather congenially. In the end, she didn’t lose her crown because of her opinions, but because she failed to show up when and where she was supposed to. I don’t even begrudge her the fifteen minutes of fame that was rightfully hers.

Nope. The only thing that annoys me about this whole affair is that is being framed and reported as a violation of little Miss. California’s free speech rights. Only in America can people with so little so say go on so many TV talk shows to promote a book about how their free speech is being restricted.

I love my Amazon Kindle. I’ve been a bit annoyed with the cost of the e-books and the lack of a proper PDF reader, but overall it’s a wonderful toy.

Last week, however, Kindle users felt the long, strong arm of Amazon’s DRM system. It seems that Amazon mistakenly sold a version of Orwell’s 1984 that it should not have. The morning after they discovered this, purchasers of the book awoke to find that The Ministry of Trust (aka Amazon Customer Service) had remotely deleted the books from their Kindle.

Since Amazon never mentioned that they had the ability to reach into our library and take our books, Kindle users were shocked. Amazon spokesheads said it was all a misunderstanding, the matter was handled poorly, and that all affected parties would have their money refunded.

They also reluctantly admitted that they did see some irony in the fact that this happened with 1984 of all books.

There was no accident here, of course. The fact that Amazon had the confidence to pull such a move means that this “feature” was designed into the kindle, tested and documented.

Cronkite died yesterday. Watching the current news coverage and maudlin commentary from the reports really drives home how far the US news media has fallen since the time “the most trusted man in America” was at the helm.

It would have been simply unthinkable for Cronkite to call a guest a “pinhead”, yell at or insult an interviewee, or to cut a guest’s mic when they say something with which he disagreed.

I was watching the coverage of the Democratic convention yesterday and it was like watching a sports broadcast — with really inane commentators.

There was a ten minute segment where the commentators discussed what was “really going through Hillary’s Clinton’s mind.” Not what she was saying now, or what she had said in the past, or how she had acted in the past or anything that was remotely grounded in reality. In fact there was not a word about anything she had said or done. Just four people using their psychic mind-reading skills with extraordinary confidence to tell the network audience what she really thinks.

They then turned their discussion and their mind-reading skills on Obama.

Really, who the hell cares what these pundits might fantasize about what goes on inside other people’s heads?

P.S. I’m thinking of a number between one and ten …

For those readers who don’t diligently read every comment posted to this blog (You know who you are!) I thought I would bring this little item to your attention.

Last year I posted with amusement about the tempest in a teacup that was the Pink Taco Controversy.

James W. Sperman, the creator of the Pink Taco Restaurant & Bar posted a link to a website he created that tells the whole Pink Taco story. It’s worth a read, and as a serial entrepreneur myself, I really feel for the guy.

I’ve never understood the new American cowardice that causes people to honestly believe that people living in caves on the other side of the world really are the “greatest threat this nation has even faced.” Sure we have to be careful, but these wacko’s a not a threat the the existence of the country.

Even in the current state of perpetual panic, however, every once something still makes me say “Shit! These morons are serious!”

It seems that the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA are quite excited about Lamperd’s “EMD Safety Bracelet.” There is a video on the site that really has to be seen to be believed, but I’ll explain briefly.

Under the plan, when we board a flight we would all be issued “safety bracelets” which could only be removed by security personal at the destination. If the airline crew decides we are misbehaving in flight, they will be able to remotely activate our bracelets to deliver a “debilitating electric shock that would render [us] unconscious for several minutes.”

What’s most disturbing is that these people were not laughed at or spat on, but are being actively encouraged by the US government.

… and while we’re on the subject of health. It’s kind of Amazing that Americans will ignore all kinds of real health dangers, but invent all kinds of diseases that are not real.

A friend sent me an article about the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders which is the psychiatrists bible. If can’t sleep after you drink too much coffee, you are not an idiot, you have
292.89: Caffeine-Induced Sleep Disorder F15.8, and of course there is a mind-altering drug available.

It also turns out that your kid is not a disobedient, ill-mannered brat, but has a combination of 313.81: Oppositional Defiant Disorder F91.3 and 312.8: Conduct Disorder F91. The recommended treatment, of course, is not grounding or a good spanking, but drugs to alter the child’s brain chemistry.

It’s as if life itself has become some kind of medical condition.

It was only a matter of time, I suppose. The pharmaceutical companies now make anti-depressants for dogs in oder to combat “Pet Separation Anxiety.”

I’m far too young to be a crusty old man complaining about the “way things are these days,” but it seems to me that messing with the brain chemistry of our pets, our kids and ourselves in all but the most extreme cases is simply asinine. We barely understand how the brain works, but we are quick to use mind-altering medications as soon as feel something is not quite right. And this in the nation with the harshest drug laws outside the Muslim world.

Oh yes, according to the article the “symptoms” of this new syndrome are

1. Destructive chewing
2. Excessive barking or whining
3. Pacing
4. Drooling
5. Yawning
6. Inappropriate urination or defecation

In other words, “Being a puppy.”

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to roll over and play dead.

One of the reasons Christianity spread through the ancient world so successfully was the flexibility with which the church adopted and re-purposed the holidays and festivals from competing religions. Today capitalism succeeds in much the same way. (Christmas being quite ironic on this point.)

Mother’s Day in America was begun by Julia Ward Howe in 1872 as an anti-war holiday. It was a time for mothers (particularly those who had lost loved ones in the Civil War) to appeal for diplomacy and peace. You probably won’t find that on a Hallmark Card.

It remained a minor holiday until a clothing company starting lobbying for wider acceptance and changed the focus away from politics. Four years later in 1914 the holiday became official.

I head from an acquaintance of mine back in the States. It seems his teenage son has a problem with nail-biting.  The poor kid gnaws on his nails whenever he fells stressed, nervous or bored. And being a teenage boy, that means pretty much all the time.

Actually, when I was in high-school a friend of mine also bit his nails obsessively. He beat his habit in a month, by digging his fingernails into a small bar of soap he carried around with him.

It seems such simple solutions are no longer in favor today, and American parents prefer to have their children take anti-depressant and anti-psychotic drugs. Yeah, seriously! I did a bit of research and it seems that over 40% of adolescents suffer from this problem and that anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications are the most common way of dealing with it.

Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but screwing with kids brain chemistry in these situations just doesn’t seem right.

Actually, it’s part of the ongoing and escalating drugging of American society. Every year more and more “conditions” are invented and thresholds for things like hypertension and cholesterol are dropped. Feeling blue, insomnia, occasional muscle twitches and trouble concentrating have somehow become conditions that must be treated with chemicals.

What ever happened to “Just say No to drugs”?

The outgoing 109th congress set the record for the laziest in US history by working an average of just 1 day a week. The new leadership is making a big deal of the fact that they are returning to a five-day work week starting from January 4th.

Naturally, many Congressmen consider this to be completely unreasonable. The most amusingly out-of-touch comment came from Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) who strongly opposes a work week of more than one day because

“Keeping us up here eats away at families… Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families — that’s what this says.”

Poor baby.

According an article in the Washington Post, the Bush administration now claims in federal court that terrorism suspects should not be permitted to discuss the “alternative interrogation methods” used on them. According to the court documents the government’s position is that these methods are classified and essential to national security, and that a detainee talking about what was done to him (even to his own lawyer!) “could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave damage.”

OK, I don’t need to comment on the bizarre Kafkaeske nature of this claim. But one thing strikes me as curious.

If these torture methods are truly classified, wouldn’t those employing them be guilty of revealing state secrets to the enemy?

Two days ago ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked George Bush a pretty good question about US strategy in Iraq, if there was not perhaps a middle ground between the two jingoistic extremes of “Stay to Course” and “Cut and Run”.

Bush responded with “Listen, we’ve never been ‘Stay the Course’, George.”

Ideally, Stephanopoulos would have adopted Bush’s adolescent slang and called him out on this nonsense with something like “Yo man! That’s bogus George. You dudes have been like totally ‘Stay the Course.’”

Alas, he did no such thing and went merrily on to the next question.

Since the phrase has been used extensively by everyone in the administration, including Bush, as well as a great many GOP Senators, Congressmen and supporters, I was looking forward to Tony Snow’s spin on the matter.

Yesterday he explained that the president has stopped using the term “because it left the wrong impression about what was going on.” Well OK, but that’s not quite the same thing as saying you’ve never used the term. My favorite quote from the press conference was a reporter’s follow-up to that explanation.

Q: Is the President responsible for the fact people think it’s stay the course since he’s, in fact, described it that way himself?

Snow: No.

This seemed to satisfy all reporters present who then moved on to other questions.

Great, President Bush has now authorized torture and suspended habeas corpus — but only for bad people, so it’s all OK. You know, so much has been said about this on both sides, there is not much I can add. However, something reminded me of another similar story of treason and terror so I dug up the dialog from the play. (The movie is fantastic too, if you haven’t seen it.)

All of this is far too intellectual for political debate these days, but logic behind habeas corpus has been well understood for about 600 years.

ROPER: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”

MORE: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

ROPER: “Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!”

MORE: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat?

This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down — and you’re just the man to do it — do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?

Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!”

It seems like the whole nation has forgotten the last 600 years of history. Terrorists and criminals will be found guilty and held accountable under the law. Due process will be of no help to them. Laws and due process exist to protect the innocent, not the guilty.

Mardin Amin faces three years in jail for “felony disorderly conduct” resulting from his attempt to carry a penis pump onto an airplane. He was traveling with his mother when a Department of Homeland Security officer noticed a strange object in his bag and asked him what it was. Not wanting his mom to know what he was packing, he leaned over and whispered “It’s a pump.” The DHS agent heard “It’s a bomb” and these days that’s enough to lock someone away.

I wonder how many years in jail I would get for reenacting my favorite scence from Spinal Tap.

When I read that someone had been prevented from boarding a plane because he was wearing a t-shirt with Arabic writing, I assumed it was a minor incident at small local airport involving a confused baggage screener.

I was wrong.

Raed Jarrar was waiting to board a plane at New York’s Kennedy Airport with a shirt that read “We will not be silent” in both English and Arabic. He was approached by both airline staff and government officials as he was having breakfast after he had cleared security. Jarrar was told that some passengers had complained about his shirt and that he would not be permitted on the flight while he was wearing it.

“We will not be silent” is apparently the slogan of an organization who opposes some of the Bush administration’s policies targeting Americans of Middle Eastern descent. I don’t know anything about this guy or his organization, but that’s not the point. This is pretty basic freedom of speech here.

Now, in a society that understands freedom of speech, those confused by the writing might have asked him what it means. Sure, there will always be nut-jobs who are freaked out by anything different, but when these people complain to the cops they should be told “It’s a free country” or perhaps the cop could ask the t-shirt wearer about the meaning and then reassure the nervous passenger who was frightened by the shirt.

Unfortunately, none of this happened. He was trying to make a statement that people did not want to hear, so was not permitted to travel.

I’ve always felt that freedom of speech, religion and association are profoundly unnatural concepts. They go against so much of human psychology. That is why such freedoms need to be not only indoctrinated into us at an early age, but encoded into clear, strictly enforced laws to prevent get-reactions like this.

An MSNBC poll showing 60% of readers consider the airline’s actions approprate is not a good sign for American freedom.

The ultimate irony is that these kinds of arbitrary restrictions and ad-hoc rules are always justified as necessary steps to “protect our freedom.”

You can read the whole exchange here if you like. Kind of interesting how the detective assumed Jarrar hated New York.

Responding to calls of increased ethnic diversity, the producers of Survivor just announced, the next season of Survivor will divide people into tribes by races. The island will contain Black, White, Latino and Asian tribes whose members will struggle with each other for dominance before trying to drive the other tribes off the island.

That’s certainly reality TV in the sense that the situation applies to many LA neighborhoods. I suppose this message of tolerance and inclusion is what America is most receptive to these days.