Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
You’re not paranoid . . .
if they’re really out to get ya.
Karen insists I’m paranoid. At the very least, I read too much Daily Kos. “Will Bush Walk Away in 2009?” showed up on the Recommended list this AM and it gave me the serious heebie jeebies. Enough heebie jeebies that I headed over to We Move To Canada, followed the links, and confirmed for myself that yes, Canada would grant me residency if I jumped through all the hoops. (72 points, and passing is 67. Woot!)
Here’s the issue. For the last few days, posters over at Daily Kos have been writing about the internal coup (BushCo’s successful attempts to control all three branches of government; and if you don’t believe BushCo controls Congress, witness last week’s conciliation to Bush on the war) and, today, the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive. That’s the directive which allows Bush to take full control of the Federal Government in case of a national catastrophic emergency, which is defined,
(b) “Catastrophic Emergency” means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions
It’s that phrase “regardless of location” which freaked out the post’s author, and me, too. Select the following options from this vague definition: “regardless of location” (outside the US, for example?) “disruption severely affecting . . . the economy.” What do you call the Iraq occupation, for the love of God? And the comments were even more frightening than the post. To me, the “It could never happen here” commenters had weak arguments. The “Better watch your ass” commenters struck a chord.
Think I’m overreacting? What about Halliburton’s contract to build concentration camps right here in the US of A? Karen, whose mom spent time in one of those concentration Japanese internment camps, says, “I always figured they were going to use those for American citizens of Arabic ancestry.” I think they’re for dissenters of any stripe — American gulags. And even if Karen’s right, am I supposed to feel relieved?
My worry is that BushCo will suspend the ’08 election; or, post-election, assuming the Dems win, he’ll claim some sort of “Catastrophic Emergency” as justification for not leaving office. I’d like to think the people of this country would respond appropriately to such an act of violence upon the Constitution, but most Americans have, in the last 6 years, been little more than sheep. Would they stand up?
Look at the violence this Administration has done to American values: a war of aggression, habeas corpus, torture, the looting of the US Treasury. Nixon was impeached for far less, yet we are repeatedly told (even by my Congressman, Pete DeFazio) that impeachment is impossible. Many of us feel that impeachment hearings would focus public attention on the crimes of this Administration, and with overwhelming public support, Republican Representatives and Senators might feel be forced to cave in to the people’s will.
Meanwhile, I need to decide how much is too much.
I’m trying to get Karen to agree to a vacation in British Columbia. They say every journey begins with a single step . . .
D.
shit. shit. shit. shit. shit. (can i say this enough times?)
i’m scared. can i come live with you in canada when you move?
Is it, I wonder, a Jewish thing? We’ve seen this century after century. In our own generation, you and I were taught, as kids, “never forget.” I’m not saying I see the rise of antisemitism (after all, the neocons are such GREAT friends of Israel since Israel fits in so well with their Revelations world view), but of fascism in general. And with fascism comes suppression of dissent. And that’s what worries me most.
Not only that, but there’s the question of wanting to live in a society which has eschewed the values we were taught “made America great.”
To answer your question — you betcha!
It’s too cold.
Go to Australia with us!!
Lyvvie:
You can only come to Oz if you renounce Rick Mayall*.
You too, Doug. But I’ve got a longer list of things for you to renounce because you’re nowhere near as pretty.
*I think it might be one of the provisos on the new “Aussie values” test that John Howard wants to impose on prospective immigrants. You think I’m kidding, don’t you?
One of the things you have to worry about is not Bush, but whoever follows Bush. Bush and Co have shown that they are largely incompetent: I’m sorry, I can’t see Bush managing to orchestrate a takeover. He’s simply not competent to do so.
However, if he leaves something like this in place, what about the guy who follows him?
Anyway, y’all would be welcome in BC. It’s not cold here, at least not on the coast, no matter what Corn Dog says.
Manitoba’s lovely, if you like wide skies. Unless -40 for two-three weeks in January is a little too much for you…
The attraction of BC, aside from Dean and SxKitten, of course :), is the temperate weather. We need it cool (but not freezing cold, Pat!) And Oz seems a little too right wing at the moment, folks.
Hey, you’re Jewish – you’re culturally predisposed to paranoia about the means, motives & methods of the government under which you live…
it is scary as shit–and I’m talking the kind of shit that’s loaded with evil bacteria.
yo, microsaur, isn’t your dude John Howard almost as bad as our dubya?
From what I’ve heard of Howard, he’d like to be as baaad as dumbya but he doesn’t have the US’ power. Good thing. The world can barely handle one dumbya.
PS, I think it is both a cultural and learned phenomenon. I’m not sure if non-Jews can appreciate the degree of indoctrination (or call it education, if ‘indoctrination’ is too charged a word) we receive, as kids, on the Holocaust. We’re taught repeatedly to (A) never forget, and (B) always realize it can happen again. To repeat, I don’t think there’s much antisemitic flavor to the current movement, and in fact, many of the neocons are Jewish (John Podhoretz, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, to name three right off the bat). Rather, it may be a Jewish thing to be acutely sensitive to any move by government to deprive people of their rights. I’m not saying it’s exclusively Jewish, mind you, since any conscious person ought to be worried in the current climate.
It isn’t. And there’s a good reason for it… I’ve been exposed to it 2nd-hand, and it’s interesting seeing the different forms it takes. My mother-in-law is a more traditionally-liberal Zionist: JCC, temple involvement, donating to liberal Democrats; my father-in-law is more in the tradition of the 1930s intellectual atheist Communist Jew: direct-action, anti-racism, anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist. (Yes, they’re divorced.)
And no, it isn’t exclusively Jewish – I’m paranoid about them too… I’ve heard too many stories from people who are/were minor-league players in left-ish politics about the joys of modern law enforcement and contemporary expressions of state power.
What scares the hell out of me is that I have been saying this could happen ever since I read back in ’04 that the Pentagon had informed Dubya that it was ready and in place to facilitate a complete system of Martial Law in this country.
What sheep we have all become, I am sick to my stomach now to think that America has been reduced to acceptance of lost freedom….or has it?
Vancouver’s a lovely place to live, and BC’s looking for medico-types these days. Housing prices are a little insane, but there are lots of options besides the Big City.
Plus we can buy gerbils without a permit.
Yippee! Gerbils! And we would prefer not to live in the big city — 20 to 25 miles away would be ideal.
Still need to sell the family on this.
Is there mandatory military service for boys in Canada? One of the main reasons to get my family out is my concerns about an impending draft. My son’s 11. (No harm in thinking about these things well in advance.)
PS, interesting family dynamic. Guess I’m a lot more like your father in-law.
TR, welcome back! Long time no see 🙂
And TR, I know what you mean.
Doug, you’re partly right. Howard is pretty much harmless simply because as a country (Oz), we don’t have the influence (read muscle and money) to impose our will on others. We do a great line in petulant when things don’t go our way.
I think Howard has a greater underlying intelligence than dudya – he’s a very canny and cunning politician in his own right.
As for being right wing. The current “Liberal” (misnomer, read “conservative”) government – well, yeah. However we have an election in November and right now Howard and co are looking a bit sad in the polls. A popular ABC current affairs journalist is running against Howard in his own electorate – and there’s a distinct possibility she could win, making him the first incumbent PM to lose his seat.
Our “Labour party” is somewhat more left wing.
dude, here’s a link for you to pimp. I’d pimp it but my blog numbers these days are PAH-THET-ICK. Good think it’s a labor of love.
Anyway. Pimp me: http://impeachgonzales.org/
Sounds like you’re too wimpy for Ontario weather, but when you move to BC, I would hope you’d at least pop over once in a while.
Now, if I were moving to Canada I’d give serious consideration to Halifax. It’s the first city I’ve been to that made me wish I lived there.
No draft or compulsory service in Canada, plus our money’s prettier.
PS my father-in-law?
Microsoar (by the way, did you notice how I FINALLY corrected your spelling in my blogroll? Go me!) for some reason, I find the idea of Australia a little intimidating. For one thing, my wife and son need cool weather. Really cool weather. You guys have any place with an average temp no higher than 65F?
Kate, I’ll do it first thing. A worthy cause if ever there was one.
Mo, I’d love to visit & make your hubs jealous.
SxK, I’m sure I’ll be pumping you & Dean for more info in the days ahead. Karen’s agreed to vacation in BC . . . more on this later this evening. As for PS, PS = Protected Static. He was talking about his in-laws. See? It’s not always about you 🙂
What do you mean, it’s not always about me?!? Of course it is, silly.
*ahem* I’ve been meaning to mention this… I am case-sensitive…. Though ‘ps’ vs. ‘PS’ probably isn’t any more obvious. I also answer to ‘static’ as well as ‘dumbfsck’ – though the response to the latter is far more likely to be hostile than to the former 😉
Doug, the only place that meets that requirement all year around (versus a 12 month average) is the west coast of Tasmania.
And if you’re looking for somewhere remote to get away from the rat race, it’s probably ideal. But the demand for ENT specialists there is, well, not.
I think New Zealand is the place for you. Cool, remote, safe and left wing (Helen Clarke doesn’t take sh*t from anyone. Including Dubya.) Hell, I’m half inclined to move there myself.
oh yeah, forgot.
Go you.
ps: i’ve read your blog. “Dumbfsck” most definitely does not apply.
Microsoar: ooh, New Zealand. I like that idea. But scary? You betcha. See tonight’s post. We really would be cutting ourselves off from friends and family — it’s not at all easy for my wife to travel, so I can’t see us making the trip back that often.
On the other hand, in SF novels and films, don’t Oz and New Zealand usually survive global nuclear devastation? Something to think about.
Wow, Doug. I’m as down on W as the next guy, but I really think that Daily Kos, Halliburton-building-concentration-camps stuff is crazy-people talk. I believe that most Americans (including many Republilcans) feel that, come January of 09, good riddence George — you’re Texas’ problem again. And even if I’m wrong, well, I love America. And if that means riding this bitch down, then so be it.
I hope you’re right, of course. But the Kos crowd is not a tinfoil hat group — they’ll kick your butt off if you so much as breathe the phrase “9/11 conspiracy”. As for the Halliburton concentration camps, that comes straight out of a Halliburton press release. They call them “detention camps,” I believe, but it’s the same thing.
All I’m saying is: maybe it would be better to ride this one out from a distance.
I’m a strong believer in being a part of the solution. Despite what Fox News and Ann Coulter want you to believe, people like us aren’t the lunatic fringe, we’re the people that make America great. Look at Bush’s approval numbers — we ARE the majority.
Hey, Canada’s a nice place. My sister-in-law is a bonafide French-speaking Montrealer. But I’m not going to be sleeping on her couch anytime soon.
This is MY land.
“Lyvvie:
You can only come to Oz if you renounce Rick Mayall*.”
Noooooooo!!!! I love him. I looooove him!! but will keep it a secret locked up in my heart.
Husband wants New Zealand…how do they fancy Rik??