Archive for July, 2009
The Beginning of the End
Posted by zoboxrox in malfunction, politics on July 29th, 2009
I, for one, do not want the Republican Party to dissolve, believe it or not. It is far too amusing to watch, fumbling around issues. More importantly, its probably one of the few things that unites the Democrats at this point — they’re almost as splintered. But, at least in the Senate, it appears the thousands of cracks in the GOP are opening up into full blown schisms. You know the silly dog that bites his own tail — imagine its an elephant.
It started yesterday when Republican Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, who has already stepped on some GOP toes recently, went ahead and said this out loud and to another person, for reasons only known to himself (CNN reports):
Republican Sen. George Voinovich, who is not running for re-election next year, told a newspaper in his home state of Ohio yesterday that Southerners bore a good share of the blame for his party’s lagging popularity.
“We got too many Jim DeMints and Tom Coburns,” Voinovich told the Columbus Dispatch Monday. “It’s the Southerners….
“They get on TV and go ‘errrr, errrrr,’” he said, according to the paper. “People hear them and say, ‘These people, they’re Southerners. The party’s being taken over by Southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?’”
Well guess who was not too happy about this? Did you guess Southern Republicans? You’re so smart. Once again, CNN reports.
Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana slammed fellow Republican George Voinovich Wednesday for saying the GOP’s problems stem from the fact that it is “being taken over by Southerners,” calling the Ohio senator “a moderate, really wishy-washy.”
“I’m on the side of conservatives getting back to core conservative values,” Vitter told the Washington Times. “There are a lot of us from the South who hold those values, which I think the party is supposed to be about. We strayed from them in the past few years, and that’s why we performed so badly in the national elections.
I suggest these guys settle this the old fashioned way… take it outside.
A Futile War: Part I
Posted by zoboxrox in War on Drugs, crime, human rights, justice, tragedy on July 28th, 2009
In honor of the late great Walter Cronkite, the Most Trusted Man in America, Part I of my look at the War on Drugs focuses on the following snippets from an article he wrote for The Huffington Post in March 2006 (my comments are in orange).
When I wanted to understand the truth about the war on drugs, I took the same approach I did to the war in Vietnam: I hit the streets and reported the story myself. I sought out the people whose lives this war has affected. Allow me to introduce you to some of them… [there is an entire website dedicated to the innocent victims of the drug war, their ages range from 8 months to 88 years].
…Jan Warren, a single mother who lived in New Jersey with her teenage daughter. Pregnant, poor and desperate, Jan agreed to transport eight ounces of cocaine to a cousin in upstate New York. Police officers were waiting at the drop-off point, and Jan - five months pregnant and feeling ill - was cuffed and taken in.
Did she commit a crime? Sure. But what awaited Jan Warren defies common sense and compassion alike. Under New York’s infamous Rockefeller Drug Laws [recently dismantled by Albany legislature and Governor David Patterson, who is quoted as saying “I can’t think of a criminal justice strategy that has been more unsuccessful than the Rockefeller drug laws”], Jan - who miscarried soon after the arrest - was sentenced to 15 years to life…
In Tulia, Texas, an investigator fabricated evidence that sent more than one out of every ten of the town’s African American residents to jail on trumped-up drug charges in one of the most despicable travesties of justice this reporter has ever seen [here is a link to this story, even more info here]….
…[The Drug War] surely hasn’t made our streets safer [see graph below*]. Instead, we have locked up literally millions of people…disproportionately people of color…who have caused little or no harm to others - wasting resources that could be used for counter-terrorism, reducing violent crime, or catching white-collar criminals.
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on this effort - with no one held accountable for its failure.
Amid the clichés of the drug war, our country has lost sight of the scientific facts. Amid the frantic rhetoric of our leaders, we’ve become blind to reality: The war on drugs, as it is currently fought, is too expensive, and too inhumane
Is that a gun in your pants, or are you just happy to see me…
Posted by zoboxrox in Uncategorized, crime, politics on July 24th, 2009
How many senators does it take to screw in a light bulb? Of course the answer is 60 — and thank god for that. The Senate narrowly rejected an ammendment (which has to be approved by 60 votes — not a majority of 50+) attached to the new defense bill which would have allowed people to travel between states with concealed weapons, no matter the laws in the states to which they are traveling. In other words, anyone who has a gun permit, which is about as easy to get these days as a driver’s license in some places, could legally carry their hidden firearm on the streets of your home town, no matter what your local laws dictate.
My home town happens to be New York City, and I am so grateful to the two dissenting Republican Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana and George Voinovich of Ohio, because while its one thing to have a gun in your house, it is entirely different to bring it out with you at night. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A BAR?!?!? There are so many morons out there (see below)… adding weapons to idiocy is never smart.
400 big city mayors, who came together to form Mayors Against Illegal Guns, agreed with me, including my own, Dictator Bloomberg, and sent a letter to the Senate pleading with them to come to their goddamn senses not to pass the bill. While this is clearly a case of the Federal Government imposing itself on State’s Rights, which is like, the main platform for conservatives these days, it was of course a Republican sponsored and supported bill.
The debate forced senators to wrestle with issues of states rights, sometimes in ways that seemed to clash with the general philosophies of their parties. Many Republicans, who typically favor limiting the ability of the federal government to dictate to states on social issues, voted in this case to limit the ability of states to insist on their own rules for concealed weapons carried by people from other states.
That said, however, 20 democrats also voted for the bill (NOT including my new Senator, Kristen Gillibrand, who was previously considered gun friendly but voted with her brain this time around). Why do people think this is a good idea? I know the argument – 
– but it doesn’t sit well with me. Is the good of the one really more important than the good of the many? Do we really live in a state of such fear that we generally feel a need to arm ourselves at all times? Maybe if we fixed the broken things in this country — health care, the economy, the middle-class — crime wouldn’t consume our streets. Is adding weapons really the answer to the problem?
Why I Love Jimmy Carter
Posted by zoboxrox in human rights, politics, religion on July 21st, 2009
There are actually a lot of reasons I’m a big fan of this ex-president, but here’s a new one:
Link to Politics Daily article titled “Jimmy Carter Leaves Church over Treatment of Women.”
After more than 60 years together, Jimmy Carter has announced himself at odds with the Southern Baptist Church — and he’s decided it’s time they go their separate ways… the former president called the decision “unavoidable” after church leaders prohibited women from being ordained and insisted women be “subservient to their husbands.”
In his own essay entitled: “Losing My Religion for Equality” (so hip, using an R.E.M. title), he writes:
It was… an unavoidable decision when the convention’s leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be “subservient” to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service.
At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.
It is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population. We need to challenge these self-serving and outdated attitudes and practices - as we are seeing in Iran where women are at the forefront of the battle for democracy and freedom.
Don’t be sad Jimmy. Right now, you’re my hero.
Who Loves the Sun?
In honor of our new Surgeon General, and the fact that I imagine a lot of you are indoors right now, here are the Top 5 reasons you shouldn’t feel bad about missing out on the sun this summer.
1. Sun Burns:
While I’m the last person who should ever lecture about sunburns, (last weekend I literally got one on my eyeballs… if you don’t believe me, here’s a link) I thought I’d offer a little insight into what is actually happening to your skin — and mine — when we spend too much time in the sun.
A sunburn is a burn to living tissue such as skin produced by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, commonly from the sun’s rays. Usual mild symptoms in humans and animals are red or reddish skin that is hot to the touch, general fatigue, and mild dizziness.
After the exposure, skin may turn red in as little as 30 minutes but most often takes 2 to 6 hours. Pain is usually most extreme 6 to 48 hours after exposure. The burn continues to develop for 24 to 72 hours occasionally followed by peeling skin in 3 to 8 days. Some peeling and itching may continue for several weeks.
2. Sun Poisoning:
Been there, done that. Once again, not lecturing here. Just sharing some important information with my favorite people.
Sun poisoning and sun burns are actually the same thing: your skin’s allergic reaction to the sun.
In the case of sun poisoning, however, the reaction is a bit more severe and the symptoms may become seriously uncomfortable. A typical sunburn involves itching, redness, and peeling. Severe sunburns may also be accompanied by small blisters that may lead to infection. Symptoms of sun poisoning also tend to include nausea, fever, headache, and dizziness and may also be accompanied by fluid loss and electrolyte imbalance.
3. Sun Damage:
This may be the hardest pill for some of you to swallow but I’ve got to keep you informed: A tan is actually a sign of damage and the body’s attempt to protect itself from further harm.
Wrinkles, Sun Spots, Leather, Oh my!
- Contrary to popular belief, a tan is not “healthy.” A tan is a sign that damage has been done to your skin.
- When exposed to the sun’s UV rays, your skin’s melanocytes produce melanin, the dark pigment that creates a tan. A tan is your skin’s attempt to prevent UV rays from doing any further damage to the sensitive skin cells in your epidermis.
- A tan does not help protect your skin from getting a sunburn in the future. A tan is equivalent to merely an SPF 4.
I’m not trying to kill everyone’s summer. Just be aware. Wear SPF - UVA and UVB protection! Tan gradually.
4. Cataracts:
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (no offense)
5. Skin Cancer:
From the Skin Cancer Foundation:
- Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. More than one million skin cancers are diagnosed annually.
- Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon.
- One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime.
- In 2004, the total direct cost associated with the treatment for non-melanoma skin cancers was more than $1 billion.
- About 90 percent of non-melanoma skin cancers are associated with exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.
- The incidence of many common cancers is falling, but the incidence of melanoma continues to rise significantly, at a rate faster than that of any of the seven most common cancers.
- Melanoma accounts for about three percent of skin cancer cases, but it causes more than 75 percent of skin cancer deaths.
Surgeon General’s Warning
Posted by zoboxrox in health, politics, powerful women, science on July 14th, 2009
Yesterday Obama nominated Dr. Regina Benjamin of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, to be his new Surgeon General, and while the position is more or less a symbolic one, his choice highlights his thoughts on the nations health, and perhaps the direction he hopes to take the entire health care system.
Whats interesting, and at the same time predictable, about his choice, is that here is a woman of color who comes out of the same meritocratic system as the President himself (as well as his choice for the Supreme Court). In this way, unlike someone who came from privilege and never needed any help, Dr. Benjamin feels she owes the system, and has dedicated her life to helping others — NOT to cashing in on her skills and experience. In fact, the New York Times quotes her current employer as saying they are currently $300,000.00 in debt to her, because she hasn’t received payment for years.
Mr. Obama’s signature domestic policy goal is reforming the nation’s health care system to make doctors more accessible to the tens of millions of people without insurance. He picked someone who has spent her entire career tending to the poor and the uninsured, sometimes accepting pints of oysters as payment.
It was Dr. Benjamin’s willingness to sacrifice — something health care reform may ask of many more doctors — that Mr. Obama discussed at length Monday.
Dr. Benjamin, Mr. Obama said, “represents what’s best about health care in America — doctors and nurses who give and care and sacrifice for the sake of their patients.”
On top of her qualifications as a doctor and an advocate for the poor and uninsured, she also comes from the land of disaster AKA the Gulf Coast (perhaps most memorably Hurricane Katrina), and has a lot of experience with emergency health situations — an incredible tool for the job of Surgeon General. Her own clinic in Bayou La Batre, which she built in a shrimping town 25 miles south of Mobile, Alabama, has been destroyed and rebuilt three times, twice due to hurricanes, and once to fire. 
She has an intimate knowledge of tragedy and early loss, as she has been personally affected by what she considers, “preventable diseases”: her mother’s death from lung cancer due to smoking, her father’s death from high blood pressure and diabetes due to diet, and finally her brother’s death from HIV due to lifestyle. In other words, she understands what’s killing Americans — its happened right in front of her eyes, both in her home, and in the clinic where she serves thousands of people, sometimes at cost to herself.
Here are some awesome facts about her from her Wikipedia page:
- In 1998 she was the United States recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights
- Dr. Benjamin was named by Time Magazine as one of the “Nation’s 50 Future Leaders Age 40 and Under.” She has been featured in a New York Times article, “Angel in a White Coat,” and was chosen “Person of the Week” by ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, “Woman of the Year” by CBS This Morning, and “Woman of the Year” by People Magazine. She was also featured on the December 1999 cover of Clarity Magazine and received the 2000 National Caring Award, which was inspired by Mother Teresa.
- In 2006, she was awarded the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by Pope Benedict XVI.
- In 2008, Benjamin was named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report.
- In September, she was one of 25 recipients of the $500,000 “genius awards,” awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
While You Were Mourning…
Posted by zoboxrox in environment, health, international, malfunction, miracle, not news, politics, religion, science, tragedy on July 2nd, 2009
So my favorite eatery has captioned CNN on their television at all times (hence, my favorite) and while the 24/7 media channel has a tendency to be a little hokey, perhaps overblown, and often downright dramatic (but no news is good news right?), I respect them simply for the fact that they are huge enough to sink their perfectly manicured, yet often clumsy, claws into most every major news item au current. I can’t help myself, then, from feeling majorly disappointed that this generally satisfactory and overly accessible outlet for information is, at this very moment, reporting “BREAKING NEWS: VIDEO OF MICHAEL JACKSON’S FINAL REHEARSAL RELEASED.” (Here it is if you’re curious… entertaining, but not news)
I have to ask myself, is this really breaking news? And don’t get me wrong, I love MJ. I was a die hard Jackson fan even when it was embarrassing to admit. My list of favorite songs include some of the lesser known, deeper felt (”She’s Out of My Life” now has a whole new meaning), and I’m proud to say that while its not a consistent ability, I have successfully moonwalked on occasion. BUT — before I am a Michael Jackson fan, I am a citizen of the world, and my deeper concern lies in what has happened in the week since his untimely passing. So here is the list of Top 5 News Events that occurred while you were mourning:
1. Lets start with the ridiculously important act by the House last Friday, June 26, which, after years of ignoring the inconvenient truth, passed H.R. 2454, or The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. While the act itself is far (far far far far) from perfect, and in truth it dragged itself across the finish line at the last second, winning by only seven votes, it is hugely significant because it is the first time Congress has formally recognized what every other thinking American knows as Global Warming, Climate Change, the Greenhouse Effect (remember that one?), the End of the World, etc:
The vote was the first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change. The legislation, which passed despite deep divisions among Democrats, could lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction.
President Obama hailed the House passage of the bill as “a bold and necessary step.” He said in a statement that he looked forward to Senate action that would send a bill to his desk “so that we can say, at long last, that this was the moment when we decided to confront America’s energy challenge and reclaim America’s future.”
But I bet a lot of people didn’t hear about this. After all, we’d only had a day since Michael’s passing. Who cares about… you know, the world…?
2. Two days later, on Sunday June 28th, a little place called Honduras, you may have heard of it, its part of our continent, went ahead and had themselves a coup. 
Back story is as follows: Left-leaning President Manuel Zelaya (think Chavez, with a mustache) was pushing for legislative reform which would allow him to lift the term restrictions for presidents, enabling him to run again (think Mayor Bloomberg, without the cash). Apparently the military found this completely unacceptable, and in the middle of the night, took over the government and exiled Zelaya to Costa Rica (actually, that sounds pretty nice).
In the first military coup in Central America since the end of the cold war, soldiers stormed the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa, early in the morning, disarming the presidential guard, waking Mr. Zelaya and putting him on a plane to Costa Rica.
Mr. Zelaya, a leftist aligned with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, angrily denounced the coup as illegal. “I am the president of Honduras,” he insisted at the airport in San José, Costa Rica, still wearing his pajamas….
Church services were canceled and most people stayed home. Several thousand protesters supporting the president faced off against soldiers outside the presidential palace, burning tires.
The government television station and a television station that supports the president were taken off the air. Television and radio stations broadcast no news. Only wealthy Hondurans with access to the Internet and cable television were able to follow the day’s events.
Normally a coup would be pretty big news — HUGE. Remember in Pretty Woman when she goes back into the store to tell them what a mistake they’ve made by not letting her shop — HUGE MISTAKE — well this is huge the way that was.
3. Another two days later, in the early morning of Tuesday June 30, a passenger plane, an Airbus 310 to be exact, carrying 153 people, crashed on its way from Yemen to the Comoros Islands. 
While normally this would be an instant global tragedy for the world to rubberneck, the story becomes even more unbelievable, as a sole survivor, a 14 year old girl who can barely swim, is rescued, found floating in the Indian Ocean. The young woman, Bahia Bakari, was traveling with her mother and three siblings, all of whom are believed to be dead, and cannot explain how it is she managed to stay alive.
A severely bruised young girl believed to be the only survivor of an Indian Ocean p
lane crash flew back Thursday to Paris, where she was embraced gently by her father, who tried to lift her spirits with a joke.
Bahia Bakari, 12, returned to France from the Comoros Islands on a French government plane. The Falcon-900 jet with medical facilities left the archipelago nation, a former French colony, and arrived at Le Bourget airport just north of Paris…
Bahia, described by her father as a fragile girl who could barely swim, spent over 13 hours in the water clinging to wreckage before she was rescued. She was found suffering from hypothermia, a fractured collarbone and widespread bruises to her face, elbow and foot….
“In the midst of the mourning, there is Bahia. It is a miracle, it is an absolutely extraordinary battle for survival,” France’s cooperation minister, Alain Joyandet, who flew back with her, said at the airport. “It’s an enormous message that she sends to the world … almost nothing is impossible.”
And yet, there are people who don’t even know this story, haven’t even heard of Bahia, because Michael Jackson died last week, and there’s only so much room for misery in one’s life.
4. Later that very same day, Al Franken defeated Norm Coleman in the final battle of the war for the Minnesota Senate Seat.
Apparently Coleman had to dip into his dental fund to continue the lawsuit, and when pressed with the idea that he may be required to shell out even more cash, decided to call it quits, like a true conservative. Obama now has 60 friends in the Senate. He can basically do anything he wants. Even Bush never had it this good. And while I’m sure people know this happened, no one really seems to care. All of the passion Americans have put into politics over the past year, seems to have died with MJ.
5. Finally, the people of Iran continued to struggle for basic human rights, like freedom, and fairness, and safety. They continued to protest, continued to recieve beatings, continued to be kidnapped, murdered, or worst of all, disappeared. They continued to document their troubles as well, but couldn’t post the images online, their main resource at this time, because the inernet had basically crashed with Michael Jackson frenzy.
So here’s a little video someone put up on YouTube to remind us all, its not over, its only just begun.
(Amanda — don’t watch this)
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