Solstice Blues

Hang on; this is gonna be kinda scattergun here.

One of the wiser men I've ever met seemed to intuit that I tend to get down around the Winter Solstice.  It's not Christmas; I love the holiday.  To be honest, I think it has more to do with New Years, and the empathic feedback loop that is my life, telling me that everybody and everything is hustled out, stressed all the way up, and generally over Winter before it really even begins.  (Thank you very much for the card, Randy.)

If you're a fan, and in case you haven't seen it yet, Batgrl is posting again.

The comments to the post below this are the real reason I treasure this blog.  Things get a little heated, but not hostile. (Not that I mind hostile, but I tend to prefer it directed at me.)  I very much respect Pokey's input to comments, as a veteran, and I was gonna warn him that my sister-in-law has also proudly served, but she handled that well all on her own.  It does bring up a good meta-point.  It's hazardous to assume that you might know what background anyone brings to the debate.  And the truly marvelous thing is that that's how we learn.

I really should not have read this, first thing this morning.  Peter Daou is right, and it is highly likely that Bush will skate on this offense.  But I reiterate:  the most important thing in this entire domestic spy fiasco is NOT that Bush get his comeuppance.  It is that the Executive Branch not be given a free pass to further circumvent the Bill Of Rights.

My ex-father-in-law believed a lot of wacky and stupid stuff.  But there was enough truth to some of it to keep him believing that "they" were out to get us.  His greatest nightmare was that tyranny would take hold with the Brady bill, the assault weapons ban and further erosion of the second amendment.  My ex-dad wasn't exactly a tactical genius.  If he'd have had clue one, he'd have seen that the real danger is, and has always been, the concentration of enforcement power in the very branch of government tasked with enforcement control, the Executive.  That doesn't mean taking away your guns so that you can't fight back.  When it comes to that, it's already way too goddam late.

The concentration of power for a dictator does require erosion of the Bill of Rights, but the second amendment is *way* down on the target list.  First, you take away the ability to dissent.  "Free Speech Zones"?  Are you fucking kidding me?  That Americans don't puke at even hearing those words taken seriously amazes me.  The first American right that you attack and constrain is free speech and free assembly.  NO resistance can organize if communicating such a will is considered treasonous, and organizing around such a message is subject to control and will of the enforcers.

After the 1st Amendment, a prospective tyrant would  go after the 5th, 6th and 7th.  If you bypass due process (enemy combatants?, extraordinary-rendition?, military tribunals?) then you can enforce your will, and still have the support of gun-toting second amendment supporters everywhere.  After all, it's only bad guys that get hurt here, right?

It's the attack on the 4th amendment that we're seeing right now.  If "enemies of the state", as defined solely and secretly by the Executive branch, can be searched at the will of that Executive without judicial review (no warrant) then obviously anybody, *ANYBODY*, can be defined as an enemy of the state.

People, if this doesn't scare the shit out of you, then nothing should.  It does no good to look backwards towards Clinton, or Carter, or anyone else at all.  The problem lies in the future, not the past.  If the rest of the rights we have relied on to give us justice in the face of tyranny are eroded, and handed piecemeal to whomever sits in the White House at the moment, then I guarantee you, some asshole will exploit it for power and control.  All of the guns you've worked so hard to keep will do you no good whatsoever against the national guard unit (or ATF squad) that comes to take you to the camps, just because you agreed with an overseas buddy that something needs to change in America.

I wish desperately that I was one of those jokers who could blog full time.  As it is, I strongly urge everyone to read Atrios constantly.  Even if you can't stand his "lefty" politics, hold your nose and read it.  He's doing the best job I've seen of bringing all of this together.  This is stuff you need to know, and you need to know it accurately.  Not because this could bring down a President that isn't all that well liked, but because this could bring down your country.

Comments

[Pokey]

You wouldn't respect my comments if I wasn't a veteran?

I enjoy the heat of the debate too. Especially, with someone who seems like there is a possibility of being swayed (read: NOT Squid or Jerry).

The only thing we can go by is by what people have written. And though she initially got my hackles up, they're back down and I'll buy Brittany a beer anytime (I'll be home - Montana - in February - I'll probably live in the Rocking R or Old Chicago for at least a week during that time).

As far as the rest of the post. Well put. We can't afford to let any of our rights get trampled on, lest it bring down the Republic.

And BTW: I'm overseas, so don't tell me things need to change - they might come for you...

[Pokey]

Oh man, that is depressing. I just read that article on what will happen and Bush will ride this out. It seems all to likely, short of our Democratic representatives getting coordinated and getting some spine... Ha!

But maybe the break between now and the end of January will be exactly to wrong thing to do for the Republicans and will enable us to get our act together. Maybe.

[Brittany Kailey]

Yeah I read that too. A very interesting, well written piece.

Then I read the comments section. And one prase from my childhood kept running through my head as I read: "the sky is falling! It's the end of the world!"

And that just succeeded in pissing me off. To hear people saying that the "American experiment" is dead, just absolutely infuriated me. So, of course, being the type of person who must open my mouth and put my two cents in, I did :)

I will repeat one part of it here, because I think it bears deep truth. As long as there are sites/blogs like this, alive and strong, so shall be America and her people. They keep us talking, thinking, and learning.

Thank you Wulfgar, for being here, alive and strong.

[Brittany Kailey]

Yo, Pokey, this little girl doesn't do beer. Kahlua and cream is another story though :)

Where are the Rocking R and Old Chicago? Sadly, I am not a native Montanan so don't have a clue if it isn't Dillon and maybe Butte.

[Wulfgar]

The R-bar and Old Chicago are here in Bozeman, and yeah, Pokey, I respect your comments regardless of your veteran status.

Brittany, where I differ in opinion from my best friends is that I still have hope for the American experiment. But there's a whole lot of people out there who need a sharp pop upside the head if its going to continue. Sometimes, that's why I blog.

[Pokey]

You're absolutely right as long as there are blogs like this, the American ideal is not dead, and I didn't mean to infer that it was. I too have hope for the experiment and it is still an experiment. I think that the best days of America cab be ahead of it, if we choose the correct paths.

But if the history from the 1930's tells us anything, democracy isn't wiped away in one fell swoop, it's eroded away a little bit at a time. Thus, Wulfgar and Justin and my resistance to this giving up of a little liberty.

[Pokey]

Sorry, I just realized that you were referring to the comments on the Salon site and not the ones here.

It looks like there is a revolt happening in the house. Virtually a no confidence vote in the current leadership. They have only approved a 1 month extension to the Patriot Act, which will ensure that they will have to be back in session before the end of January, which means that they will have to vote on new leadership and virtually no way for Tom Delay to get his charges dismissed before then. Things are already looking interesting for the new year...

[Randy]

"One of the wiser men I've ever met..."

You are far too kind and you're welcome for the card. Enjoy the holiday and screw the new year! ;-)

[billT]

The administration still manages to sway a unbelievable number of Americans with their "we are just protecting you" line. The "American Experiment" may not be dead but a sizable number of Americans seem to be brain dead.