Category Archives: politics

Poly Sci 101

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One of the fab things about living in Seattle is the high level of political literacy. This means I don’t have to argue with people who still think that the cold war is going on and that the worst threat to democracy is Communism, or as someone wrote on another blog “Communism’s limp-wristed cousin, socialism”.

First- the limp-wristed insult, to which I’d like to say “excuse me, your fox news education is showing”. Resorting to gay bashing doesn’t really make a point, but shows some serious levels of teh stoopid.

Second- here’s a little edumacation for those not so lucky to live in politically astute places.

Communism, democracy, theocracy, monarchy, anarchy, totalitarianism- these are all political systems. They tell us how we want to choose those who would have power over us,what laws they will use to govern and how we will limit their power. Ideally in communism, democracy and anarchy the people have direct control over power, but only anarchy and communism believe that eventually people’s best natures will show through and everyone will behave themselves. Democracy is a bit more realistic about people’s better natures and gives us a way to get rid of asshats through the vote.

Capitalism and socialism are economic systems. These systems tell us how we choose to allocate resources. Pure free market capitalism relies exclusively on competition, socialism relies on cooperation. Capitalism is not exclusive to democracy, quite contrary actually. Fascism is ACTUALLY capitalism attached to totalitarian political structure. Socialism is not anti-democracy either, quite the opposite. Socialism works best when people get to choose it.

Now I may come off as a pinko liberal commie,but I am not in any way, manner, shape or form a communist. I love democracy. I love being a part of shaping the government and I love that everyone in a democracy gets a chance to do that. I want more democracy, not less. I want national referendums and for every single citizen to get to vote easily- including people with criminal records. But when it comes to economics, I am actually a hybrid kind of girl.

For all my proggy tendencies, I don’t think all capitalism is bad. I like the stuff that capitalism produces, like the computer I am sitting at now and the vast array of shoes that currently fill my closets. Capitalism works best for items where the consumer can get near perfect information. I know how many pairs of shoes I need (and how many pairs of shoes I want)and what kind of shoes I want. I also know what I need my computer to do (music, videos, email, word processing, photo editing) and what I don’t need it to do (video games, TV or DVD watching). Competition insures that I can get what I want at a price I am willing to pay.

Then there are things I need that as an individual that I will never get perfect information for. Health care is one of those things. I don’t know if I will live to be 80 without ever suffering from an expensive disease or if I will get hit by a bus tomorrow. The uncertainty factor in health care makes it impossible for me to competitively shop for it. But governments can get near perfect information on health care. They may not know which individuals are going to get cancer or be hit by a bus, but they have pretty good numbers for how many individuals get hit by a bus or get cancer and how much treatment for those things will cost.

Then there are things where I know how much I’ll need and what price I can pay, but the difference in quality doesn’t just make for an unpleasant experience but for a life or death situation. These things include spinach, where i would like some guarantee that trying to get my Popeye on won’t land me in the hospital with kidney failure due to shoddy farming practices. Also, children’s toys. I may know just how good or bad the Kid’s been at Christmas, but taking a lead paint detector with me to the store is not very practical.

For situations like food quality and toy safety, relying on competition alone won’t work. We can’t afford to wait for people to die of ecoli before grocery shopping so that we know what brands of spinach are safe to eat. That is where government regulation comes in. I know in little libertarian fantasies there is no government regulation of anything because competition in the free market will eliminate producers of bad goods. I invite all libertarians to become my personal food and water testers if that dream comes to fruition. I’ll even make the delicious spinach salad with a bacon ecoli dressing, but they have to take the first bite.

I’ve been interrupted by students so many times writing this post that I can’t remember what the original point was. Oops.

Dear Australia

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Congratulations on dispensing with your own right wing asshat, John Howard, in recent elections.

May I just say that I am insanely jealous that your election came a full year before ours and that we lowly yanks will have to suffer through one more year of Bush. I’ll be honest, our country is in such a state that whoever wins in 08 may not be able to save us.

So party on Aussies, and if any cute Aussie boys want an to marry an American girl so I can escape the coming doom, you know where to find me. (I’m also down with English, French, German, Spanish, and Canadian boys)

“God Transcends Nationalism”

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I just want to clairfy I’m not trying to advocate for anarchy here. I’m just problematizing the the previous claim that one should see elected legislators as instruments of God. I believe each person, including the members of the board of supervisors, is flawed and finite and should discern the will of God for themselves rather than assume that persons in power will automatically work out a divine plan— Rev. Nancy McLadd, Bull Run Unitarian Universalists

My flag decal turned upside down – what I should have said

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OK, so back around July I posted this image on my myspace page.

As you can see, it consists of a US flag turned upside-down, The writing is quoted from the New Testament – Mostly the Sermon on the Mount – things Jesus said that pertain to being one of his followers, and how that relates to such things as power, money, war, revenge

Now i’m not a “flag-waver” most days (4th of july excepted, and no, I don’t think that’s hypocritical) but I do believe in the principles that flag is supposed to stand for. I don’t think we have any “good old days” to hearken back to where those principles were anything more than a wonderful dream of what could be. But I haven’t given up on the good ol‘ US of A just yet.


In nautical terms, a flag turned upside-down is a distress signal – a sign that all is not well aboard the vessel flying the colors. That’s how I interpret this, and how I think many people who are currently displaying the flag upside down intend it. The ship of state has been boarded by pirates masquerading as patriots.

I posted it to get a reaction, and maybe spark some discussion in my small circle


Well, I got a reaction.

One of my friends is a guy I’ve known for several years. His mom is a family friend, he & Sis went to camp together, and attended the same church for a while, we’re both in the same passion play off & on.

He’s currently in Iraq, doing “private security”. I don’t ask, don’t want to know, & when he comes home the rich man he hopes to (if he comes home in one piece) I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to look him in the eye. I don’t think I want to see what I think I would see there.


He sent me a message, asking me to take it off my default picture, saying it was “disrespectful” to those who have given their lives defending it.

I moved it from my default, out of respect for my friend, and shared some of my thoughts about why i had it on my page. I challenged him to consider the “religious wording” (his phrase) in the image in relation to some of the polices that were being promoted under the flag.

And I asked him about something he had posted on his page about all things being fair in love and war.

He replied with the complaint that the war was so politicized that they can’t do their jobs as effectively as they could if they could, say fire on civilians instead of worrying about offending the Muslims, who want us all dead, and how pulling out of the war now would mean that those who died already will have died in vain.

Now this is a guy who’s over there. now. in the middle of this hell. He’s there by his own choice, and being handsomely compensated (PSCs make in a month about what the average soldier makes in a year), yes, but in more than one way, he’s family. On the one hand, I want to shake him up with just what kind of evil he’s actively helping to perpetrate. On the other hand, I don’t want to mess with his head in a way that could literally get him killed.

So I told him that i wasn’t going to argue firehouse politics with a man inside a burning building. That I hope he gets home safely, sooner rather than later.


And I can’t help feeling that in that agreeing-to-disagree, I have failed my friend, and the cause of peace, and God.

I can’t help feeling there’s more I should have said.

I SHOULD HAVE SAID that they didn’t fire on civilians because they’re supposed to be the “good guys”

I SHOULD HAVE ASKED why he didn’t recognize Jesus’ words as anything more than “religious writing”

I SHOULD HAVE SAID that the blind nationalism so common in evangelical circles lately is dangerous, not only politically, and materially, but spiritually.


I SHOULD HAVE SAID that he will have to reckon with God about this eventually, and that I pray that he doesn’t wait till he’s on the other side of an IED.

I SHOULD HAVE SAID that I fear for his soul.

Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. May God have mercy on us all.

Thanks DNC, for helping our votes not to count

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I’m on the way out the door, but this just makes me mad.

It’s now even more useless to vote blue in this reddest-of-red states.

Here’s a vastly oversimplified timeline:

  1. GOP-controlled Florida Legislature decides to play the “we wanna hold our primary first” game.
  2. Florida Dems decide not to hold a whole separate election even though the existing date would have us voting ahead of the “approved” early voting states.
  3. DNC punishes Florida voters by stripping our delegates (yes, kiddies, that means Florida Dems have no say in who runs for Prez) and telling the candidates not to campaign in the Sunshine State

ARRGH!

i’ll write more later, i have more to say, and i’m sure there’s more to all this that i’m not informed about, but right now it’s just one more reason I’m disappointed in the Democrats.

Who’s Your Moral Daddy?

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Recently, my work on mundaneastrology.net and on my upcoming book 1648 (sorry to plug at your expense, but guerrilla marketing must prevail!), I have thought much about morality, not the thought of dying, but who provides our moral structure. I speak not here simply of your everyday “though shalt not steal” kind of stuff, though these morals obviously still matter. What I speak of here are of the trickle down variety. Who provides our overall moral guidance? Who should we listen and why? This simple question has many ramifications.
The Church mostly lost is authority on the basis of its overtly corrupt practices. It is doubtful that such an overburdened institution–the Church had become with every aspect of life throughout every class–would have been able to keep up with the demographic changes that Europe rolled out through the 16th to 19th centuries. Nonetheless, the Church’s obvious hypocrisy opened the door for Luther to enter and for Protestants to rush in. Very apparent question arises here. Since the Church, the self-proclaimed arbiter of behavior, could not be trusted, when did the lack of trust began? Did it occur evenly across the classes? (Doubtful). Who won the authority over your morality? Catholics? Protestants? Christians? Did anyone win?
All of these questions become prominent when you consider these questions for people that have great influence on society. Who provides the moral center for our representatives? Who decides it is morally ok to move to Montana, overburden their infrastructure and contribute far less to the economy than you take away? Who provides the morality that ignores global warming? The one that says Wal-Mart is OK? The one that says being loyal to your oil buddies is worth all of the lives sacrificed to your cause?

I think in our shift to a more secular viewpoint, who determines our moral structure has never been addressed. The Church rejects secularism so it has little authority to answer related issues. Protestants too obviously have trouble reconciling their faith and the post-modern world. Governments should govern, but expect a certain level of adherence to social code. Very few concerns prove black and white anymore. For instance, what is the the moral code for projects that have down-the-line-effects? Is it morally righteous to invest in a project that could damage the environment long after you are dead?

Sheriff Who Seized FEMA Ice Could Face Charges

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Sheriff Who Seized FEMA Ice Could Face Charges
By HOLBROOK MOHR The Associated PressPublished: Mar 25, 2006

JACKSON, MISS. – Randy Walker swears he would have died from his diabetes after Hurricane Katrina had a sheriff not seized two FEMA trucks filled with ice and distributed it to residents, many of whom had to keep their insulin cold.

Now, that sheriff could be prosecuted on charges of interfering with a federal operation.

Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee commandeered two 18-wheelers full of ice from Camp Shelby, a Federal Emergency Management Agency staging area, after five days passed with little relief for residents living without electricity in the wake of the deadly storm.

I have to say, it seems extremely unfair that this guy could be facing federal prosecution for doing his job… It’s late & I’ll post more later

Opinion from The Red Queen (only cause I can’t post a link in the comments section)

These were poor people in the south. In this administration’s eyes they should pull themselves up by the bootstraps and be greatful if they get any charity at all.

Now if it had been a swing state in an election year……….