The Republic of T.

Image of the Year

When I think of all the images I've seen this year, this is the one that sticks with me. You didn't see this picture on American television, or in U.S. newspapers, magazines or any other U.S. media. His name is Ali Ismaeel Abbas, one of the Iraqi civilian casualties we didn't count. And here's what our government - with our tax dollars - did to him.

Gay Paree

It just figures.

You are Paris - You are the center of attention,
but contrary to popular belief, the world does
not revolve around you. The epitome of trendy,
you are the ideal of some and the joke of
others. Though you may have unique tastes,
looks, beliefs, goals, and opinions, if you are
not careful you can still slip into mediocrity.
Chances are: none of your friends really like
you.

What city are you?

Cheney Indicted by the French?

It could happen, according to this article about Haliburton's involvement in bribing government officials in Nigeria in relation to a $6 billion gas liquidation facility in the country.

Yet another sordid chapter in the murky annals of Halliburton might well lead to the indictment of Dick Cheney by a French court on charges of bribery, money-laundering and misuse of corporate assets.

At the heart of the matter is a $6 billion gas liquification factory built in Nigeria on behalf of oil mammoth Shell by Halliburton--the company Cheney headed before becoming Vice President--in partnership with a large French petroengineering company, Technip. Nigeria has been rated by the anticorruption watchdog Transparency International as the second-most corrupt country in the world, surpassed only by Bangladesh.

...

According to accounts in the French press, Judge van Ruymbeke believes that some or all of $180 million in so-called secret "retrocommissions" paid by Halliburton and Technip were, in fact, bribes given to Nigerian officials and others to grease the wheels for the refinery's construction.

...

The suspected bribe money was mostly ladled out between 1995 and 2000, when Cheney was Halliburton's CEO. The Journal du Dimanche reported on December 21 that "it is probable that some of the 'retrocommissions' found their way back to the United States" and asked, did this money go "to Halliburton's officials? To officials of the Republican Party?" These questions have so far gone unasked by America's media, which have completely ignored the explosive Le Figaro headline revealing the targeting of Cheney. It will be interesting to see if the US press looks seriously into this ticking time-bomb of a scandal before the November elections.

Via Just my thoughts...

Remembering Brandon

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since the murder of Brandon Teena in Nebraska.

FALLS CITY, Nebraska (AP) -- Ten years ago, a handsome, brown-haired 21-year-old named Brandon Teena was raped and later murdered by two men after they discovered he wasn't born a man.

The New Year's Eve tragedy in rural southeastern Nebraska inspired the award-winning 1999 film, "Boys Don't Cry." It also touched off a movement in the transgendered community.

In the days after Teena was killed, a new generation of activists banded together to demand greater civil rights protections. Ten years later, 65 municipalities and states have hate crime laws that specifically include transgendered people, according to the Transgender Law Policy Institute. California became the fourth state to adopt such a law earlier this year.

In the annals of gay/gender-related hate crimes, this is one I remember well. I remember being most shocked at who law enforcement officials treated Teena after he was vicitmized by rape. I was stunned at how little was done to bring the then-rapists/would-be-murderers to justice.

Many activists say Teena's murder attracted so much attention because of its brutality and the failure of law enforcement to protect Teena.

John Lotter and Marvin Nissen were convicted of murdering Teena, who had dated a female friend of the two men. They also killed Lisa Lambert, 24, and Philip DeVine, 22, who had witnessed Teena's death in a farmhouse.

A week before the killing, Teena had told the local sheriff the men had raped him, but the sheriff took no action.

In a scathing court opinion in 2001, Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice John Hendry said former Richardson County Sheriff Charles Laux showed indifference by referring to Teena as "it" and not immediately arresting the suspects.

Check out Remembering Our Dead online for an idea of how widespread this kind of hate-inspired violence is.

See Boys Don't Cry for an excellent dramatization of Brandon's story.

Oh Dear

Via Eat Your Vegetables.

Remember, this is the President of the United States speaking. Our representative to the rest of the world.

"Peeance, freeance"?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We've got to send this guy back to Crawford, TX. Permanently.

Sexy Beast: Mad Cow

This comes via Cyberactivist, former slaughterhouse worker turned vegetarian, veggie activist, and blogger. The article is entitled Sex, Meat And Mad Cow. The author begins with this startling set up,

If you really want to understand mad cow disease, just think of sex and AIDS, the eternity of nuclear waste and playing the lottery. Now add a hamburger patty to the mix, and grind it all together.

Want to take a bite out of that?

He draws a clever analogy between Mad Cow, AIDS and nuclear waste. Remember during the height of the AIDS crisis (which is still going on, though not in the news as often), when you were probably told that when you have sex with someone you're also having sex with everyone that person has had sex with? Well, think of it this way. When you eat a hamburger or steak, your not only eating that cow, but your eating everything that cow ate, and everything his mom ate, and so forth back up the family tree.

There's only one thing I'd correct the author on.

Still, when it comes to mad cow, I'm covered. Since I don't eat it, I don't have to worry. I'm like the Apple computer folks who gloat when all the PC types get viruses that can't put a dent in a Mac.

That's true only if you never, ever eat out. See the problem is the same one that occurs in a slaughter house when a blade is used to slaughter an animal with Mad Cow disease - it becomes an instrument for spreading the disease to the meat of other slaughtered animals. It works the same way in a restaurant. If implements used to prepare Mad Cow-infected meat are not washed and used to prepare vegetables, guess what. A vegetarian who eats those vegetables can be effected. See Eat Your Vegetables for more on this.

Fur is Dead. And it Sings Too!

I have to admit it. I have a pet peeve.

OK, OK. I have LOTS of pet peeves, but there's a particular one I'm confessing today. One of my pet peeves is people wearing fur; fur coats, fur-trimmed coats, etc. From my POV, it's simply unecessary, and I can't think of a compassionate way to raise and animal and then kill it for its fur.

Many people think that by buying "ranched" mink, fox, and chinchilla, they are avoiding the cruelty that goes along with trapping. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, England, one of the United States' closest allies, has banned fur farming outright for ethical reasons.

Mink and foxes comprise the vast majority of animals who are raised in fur factory farms. They live their entire lives in tiny, dirty, wire mesh cages, where they are prevented from expressing nearly every basic instinct and behavior. Mink are semi-aquatic animals who in the wild spend considerable time in the water; yet, in fur factories, they are given no access to swimming water. Foxes in the wild run and dig in search of food; in fur factories, they are prevented from ever touching soil or taking more than a few steps. These unnatural and stifling conditions foster repetitive neurotic behavior like pacing, head bobbing and weaving, and spinning.

Standard killing methods in fur factories are gassing and neck-breaking for mink, anal electrocution and poison injection for foxes, and neck-breaking and genital electrocution for chinchillas.

And trapping?

Terrified and often injured animals caught in these traps try to escape by lunging away and biting at the trap and their own limbs for up to several days before the trapper is required to return and kill the animal. Standard industry killing methods include beating or shooting the exhausted animal in the head. Of course, traps cannot discriminate between their victims, and often the animals who are maimed and killed include endangered species and family cats and dogs.

What brought on this mini-tirade? In my regular email update from Compassion Over Killing, I found a link to The Fund for Animals website, which contains a flash movie urging people to stay away from fur or fur-trimmed attire.

Myself, I don't own any fur, and wouldn't if I had the opportunity. I've been phasing leather out of my wardrobe as well, on principle. Where is all this leading? Veganism?

A View from Baghdad

ViaPicasso Dreams, this post from A Family in Baghdad offers an Iraqi perspective on the U.S. occupation.

Lets say Russia occupied your country (which "happens" to be a really rich country with oil and other resources) and actually destroyed the whole country..Killed civilians..Used cluster bombs..Chemical weapons(believe it or not..I have the pictures of the dead bodies)..Destroyed houses..Caused the looting of the whole governmental system..The ministries..All the police stations and fire departments..Airports..Whatever you think..And after that..They make a new TV and newspaper and radio station and start telling you how happy you should be and how grateful you must be for them for liberating you..And a while after..They put the pictures of your country president (doenst matter if you hate him or not) on TV with people playing with his face....Now take a moment..Close your eyes..Look through the window..And imagine that everything you c is destroyed..Every place you love is either bombed or looted..Everyone you love is probably dead or injured..And add to that a vey cold weather..No electricity..No petrol..Now open your eyes and tell me...Does it really matte if the soldiers or their families are kind people?

Remember that next time you see soldier handing out candy to Iraqi kids who will return to homes without heat or electricity, if their homes and families have survived our bombs, etc.

Agony of "de Teeth", cont'd

I swear, this whole teething process is never-ending. Now we've got the molars coming in, or some sort of back teeth. Teething can cause a slight fever in some kids, and this is the case with Parker. Fortunately with him, a bit of baby Motrin or Tylenol brings the fever down. Still, he got sent home from day care early yesterday, and we have to keep him at home today. So I'm a stay-at-home daddy for today (a taste of what's to come when I go back to my flex schedule in mid-January, and I'm home one day out of the week, most likely Friday.

Oh well, we won't be in the house all day. I have to drop by my office and pick up some things to work on later this evening. Plus I have some errands I'd like to run while I'm off. Since Parker isn't really sick, just teething, I'll pack him up and roll him out along with me.

What's in a Name?

A case for psychological child abuse, if you ask me. It seems there's a trend of parents naming their children after products.

Talk about your material girls-and boys.

Although there were hundreds of thousands of Ashleys and Emilys and Joshuas and Jacobs born that year, Evans was intrigued by the more unusual names. There were 55 Chevys, 12 Camrys, 7 Courvoisiers (named for the cognac), 17 Dodges, five Darvons and six Ronricos.

That's just the boys.

The girls' names included 298 Armanis, 164 Nauticas, 36 Cateras (a Cadillac) and six Cartiers. And there were an astounding 442 girls named Essence-a name inspired, he believes, by the magazine.

I hope some of these kids file charges agains their parents when they come of age.

Talk about consumerism run amok.