Author: meagert

[From the diaries by susanhu with minor formatting changes. Excellent — concise, and terrifying. With action suggestions.]

“The Bush administration will unveil a proposal Friday to sell up to 200,000 acres of national forest land in “isolated parcels” ranging from a quarter of an acre to 200 acres, much of it in California.”  KnightRidder

 Bush will do anything to make his financial ruin of this country look good, including selling off huge tracts of our National Forest Land for next to nothing.  And of course he uses bogus logic, claiming this will help fund Rural Schools.

 This is just Budgetary legerdemain to disguise the Tax Gifts to the Rich, cover the  immense build up of the  Military, and probably gift cheap land to his buddies!

  A lot of this selloff is  California Lands, but it is also affecting plenty of land everywhere in the Country, including over TEN THOUSAND ACRES here in North Carolina.

Check this chart for Land near You!  

 WRITE YOUR CONGRESS, CRITTER!

 Everyone knows, or should know, just how secretive the Federal Government has become under the Bush Administration.
 The Freedom of Information Act is a tool with which  Citizens can obtain first-hand information being generated by the bureaucracy, to use this information to lay bare the inner workings of OUR Republic.

  Now, I live out here in the middle of the woods…because I hold my privacy penultimate, any snoops, lost citizens, or Jehovahs are announced by my “band of mutts”, long before they are even half way down this old dead end road.

  The first European part of of my family arrived in 1630 (known as the “Planters”, for you History buffs). The other branch of my family were already here. So, I would have to say to any Republican who dared to call what I believe, treason, well, I wouldn’t say, I’ld probably just deck him (boomans not the only one with a strong sense of personal justice).

 But, I don’t trust the bastards. And I own this government. I want to know just what they are doing, at ALL times.

  The FOIA request is not all that complicated to do. Anyone with even a limited ability to fill in paperwork, wait a long time, and be able to write a check, can file one.
  But what has occurred over the past few years, is subtle, and not so subtle sabotage of these requests, by Federal Departments.

“Since September 11, 2001, several important trends have affected access to federal documents and information. First and foremost, the federal government is keeping more information away from the public. In July 2005, The New York Times reported that the government in a single year (2004) classified more than 15 million pages, while declassifying only 28 million pages.”

 This alone would be a big reason why our Traditional Media have made limited use of these requests. After all, what’s the point, everything’s a secret! (Mostly though, I just think it’s lazy “jurnaralism”.)

  The second reason these requests have been a frustrating experience is plain and simple bureacratic backlog.

“the number of requests that agencies received increased by 71 percent from 2002 to 2004.” Agencies also reported that “they have been processing more requests — 68 percent more from 2002 to 2004…. For 92 percent of requests processed in 2004, agencies reported that responsive records were provided in full to requesters.”9 However, the GAO report noted that “the number of pending requests carried over from year to year — known as the backlog — has been increasing, rising 14 percent since 2002.”

 But there is a third impediment now thrown into the mix.

When it comes to FOIA requests, many government agencies employ a delaying strategy. And the strategy seems to be effective. Reports, articles, documentaries, news reports must be written and filed without requested FOIA information. The agencies can embrace this practice and suffer no penalties or consequences, even when the requests come from the press.

  But Wait! There’s a fourth way to bottle up these Citizens.

The removal of unclassified documents has led to a fourth trend. More and more unclassified documents previously available “are now barred to the public and identified as `sensitive but unclassified’ or `for official use only.

  Now before you think I’m some sort of federal practice wonk, the article to trigger this writing can be found here  

   But the most excellent part of this article is the footnotes, and humongus list of “Web sites, blogs, listservs, and newsletters that could help clients needing access to government documents but who might experience difficulty locating that information.”
  I stopped counting them after about thirty or so, and I was only half way through….!

  So no great prescient thoughts here, no call for direct actions, just lending some tools to the neighbors. And now to bed.

Beware: You’ll have to read…not too many Hyperlinks of instant gratification.

  Whether you support Phineas T. Bluster, fillibuster, or filibuster, there are lessons from the Activism occurring as late.  
  You see, in this modern world, everything is geared to the hyperactive.  We react to our surroundings, and emerging memes. We come from an everday sort of commenting, joking around, making friends of those faceless nicks, to an all out assault on the outrage of the day. “Full speed ahead”. Stop Alito! The corruption!, etc..
  The Republican side of the aisle has spent close to Forty years building their Network… without the Internet.
  They bought businesses, they financed Media, they developed think tanks.  They were at the Elk’s Club, and the VFW. They nodded to each other as they met on Church Night.  Of course, that was the less evil side of their  larval development.  There was also the meetings behind closed doors at those same businesses, and clubs, not to mention, those closed doors at the Board of Commissioners, and State Boards of Elections. It was almost a Chinese way of looking to the long term.   And now, they are in complete control, possibly longer than we hope, or plan.
  So, What’s your point?
   We have to continue speak out against the corporate takeover of our Country, we must continue to Fax, and blog (Damn, I hate that word), to write those letters on lined papers ( as Sen. Byrd has suggested, these had more effect on him), but more than that, we need to get back to the old Democratic Party. Not this modern facade of Centrist  hogwash, not this “progressive attack everyone, and everything that doesn’t agree, but the old fashioned Tip O’Neil kind. He never forgot the name or face of a person he met.
   Every Democratic Office had a Constituent Services that “rocked”. I don’t care what you say about nepotism, and inside pull, it worked.  When Uncle Harry needed a job, he got it.  When Aunt Mary was worried about her landlord, and the heat, she got the call to him from “someone”, and it was taken care of. The working class were protected, and connected to the politics of life. They knew someone, who knew someone, who could help, and that person was always a Democrat!. But that was then….  We have lost them. We have lost the working class.
  The elitist progressive movement, even with all of its good points of ecological preservation, and honest government,etc.  has become an aggressive affront to the local communities.  When some local official is inundated with hundreds of phone calls, thousands of emails, over the local outrage du Jour, I’m sorry, but that old man  (and they are all old white men) from the countryside, is just NOT going to react in most cases, favorably.
  You can be an unabashed Liberal Democrat, a Centrist, a Progressive, yes, even a DINO, all in one person.  The very old, and tiring joke, from Will Rogers, no longer applies.  We are no longer that disparate mosh, rather, we are splintered. We are splintered into Caucuses: The Black Caucus, the Democratic Women, The Teens, Seniors, and Latino.  Who speaks for the mean old Republican…sheesh, just about every other Republican on the planet. They are a machine. They are Borg. How did they get that way?  
  Consider the Voting machine fiascos occuring around the Country.  We have BOEs, and BOCs reacting to citizen input like they never have before. JHC, I’ll bet half of them are just right proud of the fact that they have email now. With the aggressive campaigns to “inform” them, dissuade, or persuade them…they will react as all humans do…this way..no, maybe this way…nevermind… EFF IT, I’m just saying No.
  We need to build from the very localist of local. We knew in 2000 how bad the problem of voting machines was…Oh sure we beat the blogs everday, cajoled the media, sent emails…but guess what?  It didn’t work.
  It starts with having a beer with the dogcatcher…go to your local precinct meetings, attend that function at the library…BUT not as a progressive, or some such.    Bring the paperwork, or news item to show Bob the Mayor, or Jane the Commissioner. Tell the Plumber to pull up his pants, or you’ll vote Republican, and he’ll lose his benefits ( trust me, he’ll laugh).  Do it well in advance. Plan now for 2008, and beyond. Go as an American.  Go as a Democrat for the People…not a cause. Be Proud, unbowed.

  There has never been a time in the History of Humankind, when Aggression and War have not been the Natural state of the World.

 When the first hominids learned to walk upright, greed, attack and defense, were keys to survival. At first, Clans and Tribal units formed, for a simple strength in numbers tactic. Leaders were probably accepted, either because of their physical powers, and their ability to overcome others, or their hunting and gathering skills.

  As agricultural, and communal survival strategies developed, there was, almost from the outset, two types of leaders…powerful militarists able to defend their positions and their communities, the first city-state kingdoms…and the Shamanistic leader, able to watch the stars, predict planting seasons, and rule from behind the thrones.
 There were also two types of followers…those happy to accept any and all rules for their own prosperity gains, and those that followed because they had little other choice.

The following millennia have seen little improvement upon these basic human synergies.

  Many philosophies have arisen in the course of human events, from Ancient Greece, to Medieval Feudalism, through Enlightenment, Democracy, Manifest Destiny, the Fourth Reich, and today, Corporate Globalism.

 Power is an ever present fact. Power is amassed, dispersed, spent, and fought over. The Elitist believes this to be the only reasonable pursuit…the great masses cannot understand by themselves.

 Utopians believe this Power can be used to uplift all of humanity, but most have morphed into little more than behavioral modifists, or cultist leaders.

  Which, all too quickly, brings me to a point?  Religion and Power have ALWAYS driven the human condition.

  From a religious perspective, the “Rapture” may be some peoples way of solving and reconciling the human conundrum…for others it may be Taoism, Sikhism, Paganism, or Hebraic.  But simply put, all religions seek to control, modify, or define people.

  From a political perspective, whether an elite royalist, or secular democrat, or power swallowing cultist, it is the strong that rule, and set the future for all followers.

  Power, in either case, is not wrested easily from those in control. Historically, it has always been through Arms, natural disaster, or benign neglect.
  Democracy was to have alleviated this more banal, and troublesome pattern. And yet, we must struggle each day for its survival.

Fight or perish. Permanence is not natural.

-“A republic, madam, if you can keep it”