Author: S2

Let’s say a Police Department arrests 50 people, holds them for 10 years without a charge, beats them a bit, and eventually the folks are let go.  The Police do not even to bother to deny that the folks committed no crime and were unjustly detained. Pretty much everybody in contemporary America would expect the victims to receive a fairly large monetary settlement.

Now say the detainees were a group of 1,000, the Police Department had the express direction of the civilian government to conduct the detention, and the prisoners got beat up a lot, and were held for 50 years.  Probably the expectation is that the monetary compensation would be even larger than in the first case.

What if the group detained was 10,000 people, they were beaten and tortured all the time, forced to labor at no pay,  and they were held for their entire lives?

What if the group contained twelve and half million people, and the group’s children were incarcerated from birth, and they were held for over three hundred years?

If we are going to allow the state to execute folks, then why all this complicatedness?  Why not just provide sufficient amounts of heroin for the condemned to overdose?  It seems like heroin is sufficiently deadly, and, based on what I’ve heard, and the large number of users worldwide, is fairly painless.

Based on “The Wire,” it seems like about $100 worth could end the life of anyone on death row.  And we could buy it in bulk from our Afghani friends, saving the taxpayers even more.

take a break from being observed by your government and enjoy some conceptual art.

The pink ribbon,
jagged edged, unfocused confused.
While today, at long last, we know the proper dollar valuation of the unlike® link.
Huzzah.

Republicans face a stark choice for dessert:

One bowl contains the worst kind of vanilla ice-cream: poly-saturated garbage infused with artificial flavor, high-fructose corn syrup, laboratory color, and the consistency of a glob of old house paint just begun to dry.

The other bowl is filled with shards of broken glass.

Bon appétit, GOP

If we , then of course , and we can always . and the   , because the constitution says . The myth of   belies the truth that and .  And they do.

It looks like #occupy tent cities are out.  Here is an alternate idea.

Occupiers can organize themselves to be present at occupy sites 99 at a time, walking slowly in lines and columns through the site, always on the move.  As the front line exits one side of the park, or field, or whatever, a new line enters from the opposite end.

The technology exists to organize such events.

This type of occupation would be noticeable but avoid many of the problems previous incarnations have fostered.  

Occupiers can invest as much or as little time as they care to: recycling through the procession many times a day, or joining a few times a week, or even just once.

Imagine the entire parade coming to a halt at an arranged hour, each individual turning 90 degrees, participating in a “general assembly,” after which the group continues its journey.

And it would be possible for people not involved in the procession to organize other activities: finding safe places for homeless to encamp, communicating with police and government officials, recruiting and organizing participants.

Just an idea . . .

When I see Jews on an airplane, I am afraid they will bulldoze my house and build one for themselves.

When I see White Christian men on an airplane, I am afraid they will blow up a nearby federal building.

When I see Black men on an airplane, I am afraid they will sexually harass me and then ascend to the Supreme Court.

When I see Asians on an airplane, I am afraid they will re-educate me in an effort to make a great leap forward.

When I see Latinos on an airplane, I am afraid they will want to steal my job.

When I see Native Americans on an airplane, I am afraid they will want their country back.

Foreclosures to Be Suspended Over Holidays

As a gift to bank executives, Freddie Mac and his lovely mrs, Fannie Mae, of the Port Northmond MacMaes, have decided to suspend evictions from foreclosed homes until January.

Traditionally, the wealthy have lightened the crushing weight of their boots on the poor during the so-called Holiday Season.  This slight alleviation of oppression has several positive effects.  The relative freedom encourages the poor to increase spending and accumulate  debt, it may count as “points” in the unending quest of the wealthy to appear upstanding within their communities and religious organizations, and it creates a congenial atmosphere in which those who can afford to may revel in greater excess under the cover of holy celebration.  

During the 2008 Holiday Season, the let-up of pressure has some deleterious extra benefits.  It allows the layoff of workers who otherwise would process the paperwork for foreclosures, and it allows Executives to ignore the problem of accumulating foreclosed properties, while giving them additional time to indulge themselves using the delightful cash provided to them in the form of lavish salaries and expansive bonuses.