Kangaroo court. noun. The tribunal is formed under occupation and without the benefit of a "fully constitutional government." The judge is a neighbor of the alleged victims. The defense team is replaced on a whim by the judge with potted plants who make no objections during key testimony. Members of the defense team are frequently assassinated. Even if we'll never really know what happened, we can all feel happy that the man we most associated with these crimes was condemned by a kangaroo court.
Mistrial. noun. Order by the presiding judge at a judicial proceeding that the proceeding cases and be voided for incurable errors. I wonder how many defense lawyers would have to be assassinated in a U.S. court proceeding before the judge would declare a mistrial?
Hobbesian. adjective, from Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), political philosopher who outlined the need for a powerful sovereign to overcome the natural state of war of all against all. The imposition in Iraq of a weak and ineffective central government that cannot control rampant internecine violence seems almost like a demonstration of a Hobbesian argument for the restoration of Hussein.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Venezuela in USA Today
The June 5 USA Today featured a short article ("Chavez looms over Peru's runoff vote," page 8A) which described Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala as a "firey nationalist" who, if elected, would assure that Peru "tilts into Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' orbit." How can this be? Certainly, your editors must have spotted the paradox: a "firey nationalist" would assure that his country is not the satellite of anyone.
I suspect your writer and editors were blinded by their own nationalism. If the United States is the center of your political universe, as it has been for Latin American governments for most of the last century, then Peru doing what's best for Peru might seem too independent from Washington, and look like its trying to "help Chavez expand his anti-U.S. influence." But there's no chance that Peru will become a puppet of its sister Venezuela. Independence from Washington does not necessarily mean dependence on Caracas, Havana, Moscow, Beijing, or anywhere else. (In Monroe's era, it would have been London, Paris or the Hague.) Latin America is seeking to do more for itself and diversify its outside sources.
This is rational self interest, not irrational anti-Americanism. It should be also noted that Venezuela, while "anti-U.S." in the sense of opposing U.S. policy (as do most of the American people), has been a great friend to America by offering its people low-cost heating oil, hurricane relief, and free medical care, consistent with Chavez' characterization of himself and his country as pro-American.
[end letter]
What's amazing to me is the contradiction. It's just like the Washington Post article that I blogged about earlier. The conclusions directly contradict the evidence, but no matter. I will post something soon on another revealing anomaly: Chavez visits Qadaffi in Libya. The report of his visit notes the damage from U.S. airstrikes and emphasizes Qadaffi's history as an enemy of the U.S., tarnishing Chavez by association. The day before, an article on Qadaffi quotes Condoleeza Rice lauding Qadaffi as a model for other nations to follow. (Just not Venezuela, apparently.)
I suspect your writer and editors were blinded by their own nationalism. If the United States is the center of your political universe, as it has been for Latin American governments for most of the last century, then Peru doing what's best for Peru might seem too independent from Washington, and look like its trying to "help Chavez expand his anti-U.S. influence." But there's no chance that Peru will become a puppet of its sister Venezuela. Independence from Washington does not necessarily mean dependence on Caracas, Havana, Moscow, Beijing, or anywhere else. (In Monroe's era, it would have been London, Paris or the Hague.) Latin America is seeking to do more for itself and diversify its outside sources.
This is rational self interest, not irrational anti-Americanism. It should be also noted that Venezuela, while "anti-U.S." in the sense of opposing U.S. policy (as do most of the American people), has been a great friend to America by offering its people low-cost heating oil, hurricane relief, and free medical care, consistent with Chavez' characterization of himself and his country as pro-American.
[end letter]
What's amazing to me is the contradiction. It's just like the Washington Post article that I blogged about earlier. The conclusions directly contradict the evidence, but no matter. I will post something soon on another revealing anomaly: Chavez visits Qadaffi in Libya. The report of his visit notes the damage from U.S. airstrikes and emphasizes Qadaffi's history as an enemy of the U.S., tarnishing Chavez by association. The day before, an article on Qadaffi quotes Condoleeza Rice lauding Qadaffi as a model for other nations to follow. (Just not Venezuela, apparently.)
Venezuela Poster
I did this flier design for an upcoming event in Milwaukee; the final version has additional text overlaid giving the details of the program. What you see below is a low-quality rendering that gives the basic idea but loses a lot of detail.
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Thursday, June 01, 2006
Upcoming Posts
1) Immigration IV
2) Voluntary Prisons
3) Drunk School
4) The Media Campaign Against Venezuela
5) Draft Excerpt Series No. 2
6) Guns for Prisoners
2) Voluntary Prisons
3) Drunk School
4) The Media Campaign Against Venezuela
5) Draft Excerpt Series No. 2
6) Guns for Prisoners
Immigration III
Thought of the moment: if unlawful presence in the US is made a crime punishable by prison, and millions of immigrants are tossed into freshly built jails (who will be left to build them?), then will they be forced to work in low-paying prison sweatshop jobs? Wouldn't that mean they were still in competition for US jobs?
I think if we put all the immigrants in prison, they should have special prisons for people whose only crime is coming to the US without papers. They shouldn't be made to live with violent criminals. Anyone in the immigrant prison who committed a violent crime would be sent to a different prison. Immigrant prisons would be as nice as possible, with juvenile and adult facilities combined and families kept together. The prisons should have bilingual schools, parks and trees, superior medical facilities, and a prisoners' union whose elected representatives work together with the correctional officers to resolve problems. Prisoners who didn't commit any other offenses could go on work release to jobs in the city. The prisoners should have their own credit union to set aside money to buy nice houses after their release, and to facilitate efficient payment of remittances. The credit union would also manage the building funds for the main prison churches. Everyone would be crossing the border trying to get into one of the nice immigrant prisons. After a while, if everything worked out well, we'd experiment with making attendance at the prison voluntary. The guards' job would then just be to keep the prison-goers safe from crime. They won't let any of the riff raff inside the prisons.
I think if we put all the immigrants in prison, they should have special prisons for people whose only crime is coming to the US without papers. They shouldn't be made to live with violent criminals. Anyone in the immigrant prison who committed a violent crime would be sent to a different prison. Immigrant prisons would be as nice as possible, with juvenile and adult facilities combined and families kept together. The prisons should have bilingual schools, parks and trees, superior medical facilities, and a prisoners' union whose elected representatives work together with the correctional officers to resolve problems. Prisoners who didn't commit any other offenses could go on work release to jobs in the city. The prisoners should have their own credit union to set aside money to buy nice houses after their release, and to facilitate efficient payment of remittances. The credit union would also manage the building funds for the main prison churches. Everyone would be crossing the border trying to get into one of the nice immigrant prisons. After a while, if everything worked out well, we'd experiment with making attendance at the prison voluntary. The guards' job would then just be to keep the prison-goers safe from crime. They won't let any of the riff raff inside the prisons.
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