Jimmy's Cry in the Wilderness

Saturday

2010-07-24T14:06:00.003-05:00

Asheville. Surrounded by mountains. Clean, friendly hotel. Ah, this is already a better.

Katie spotted a restaurant advertising Greek and Italian food, while we're driving around waiting for the room to be ready. Pomodoros Greek & Italian Cafe. They may serve both kinds of food, but they're Greeks. I had a Mythos. Not great beer, but I have a sentimental attachment as I drank it all across Greece in 2005. I had souvlaki and tabouleh and Katie had hummus and tabouleh. It was excellent. On Easter, they serve traditional soup after midnight Mass and on Sunday, they serve roasted whole lamb and easter bread with the red dyed hard boiled eggs, just like my dad used to make.

Update:

We took the Brews Cruse.

A busload of people.
Very quiet on the way to the first brewery.
Everybody singing, dancing, or laughing on the way to the third.
Guy in kilt
John
Shauna
first couple
lesbians
"the kid"
earnest new brewers

Decided against heading downtown to Bele Chere.

Friday

2010-07-23T22:53:00.004-05:00

Drive day. Moved out of the condo by ten. Ferry over to Hatteras. I could ride the ferry back and forth all day; love a boat ride.

Lunch (last of our seafood dinners) in Nags Head. Cooked dinner on the camp stove at a rest stop. On to Asheville tomorrow.

Update: Dirty Super 8, in Statesville. Katie's vote for our worst ever motel/hotel. I don't think so, but she insists right behind the one in D.C., in 1987, where we slept in the sleeping bags on top of the sheets. Now on to Asheville.

Thursday

2010-07-23T22:45:00.002-05:00

Calmer water. Much less wind. Hot. So hot the sand burned my feet. Long time on the beach.

Biked around more of the village. Back to Zilley's for IPAs on a very hot day.

Pictures of the lighthouse. Jolly Rogers for sunset. Willis ? was singing there (same guy from Smack Nalley's). Had the crowd going and singing along. He introduced National Geographic crew who were there doing a story on Ocracoke. They were taking pictures and having a good time.

We got some Spanish Mackeral from the fish house and made ourselves another excellent dinner.

Wednesday

2010-07-21T21:57:00.003-05:00

Wednesday. Best beach day yet. Water wasn't so rough in the morning and we spent a lot of time in it. Got the kite up in the air, but it crashed 500 feet away, beyond the dunes. That sent me for a hike to retrieve. Then one of the rings got away and I chased it the same distance or more. How do they roll on their edge that far?

Had leftovers for lunch. That meal we fixed last night was the best seafood dinner on the island.

Took a nap and then biked back to the beach to feed the seagulls. Saw two guys kite surfing. They go amazingly fast and were pulled up four or five feet in the air, at times. We watched, fascinated, until they were out of site, miles down the beach.

Dinner at Howard's Pub, which looks much like it did a dozen years ago, but without the rocking chairs. Turns out it is just two doors down from the bed and breakfast we stayed at 18 years ago. We like this place.

Cats, Ducks and Fish

2010-07-20T23:03:00.010-05:00

Saturday we ate lunch as soon as we unpacked. Wandered into Dajio's and had beers and sandwiches. The waitress had an accent and we asked. She's from Bulgaria on the same exchange program as the waitresses at Howard's Pub we met a dozen years ago.

Sunday was windy. That can't be overstated on the Outer Banks. It was our first beach day and we didn't take the kite or umbrella. Good thing; we'd have never seen either again. Rough water. Wind so strong that the sand stung. Still, it's the ocean and there are no hotels and if you want, no people.

Monday, we decided to get in the water. That lasted five minutes. Got knocked down repeatedly and headed back to our chairs. Long walk. Found shells. Once we were sandy (and it's impossible not to be with that wind), hot and hungary, we headed into town. Beers (Yuengling!) and fish sandwiches at the bar at Smack Nally's, outside and on the water. Katie very happy.

I was too until I started trying to work. Limited internet access and trying to do a task that is hard enough in the office. Worked on it off and on all day and finished after midnight. Never take your laptop on vacation!

We saw two old ladies and a guy with a pick up truck setting traps and trying to catch some cats that were hanging out across the street. We later met one of the ladies, who runs the gift shop across the street, and she told us they were trying to catch them to be spayed an neutered. The island has feral cats and a vet has voluteered to fix all the ones they can catch.

Speaking of things running around the neighborhood: there are about 30 ducks that wander back and forth across the street. The look on people's faces is great.

We got in the water right away this morning (Tuesday) and had a good time. Best beach day yet. Third day at the beach and neither of us has remotely burned. We're getting this down after 25 years!

We bought shrimp and scallops at the local fish market and made a great dinner, which, as usual, we ate out on the screened in porch overlooking the harbor and main street. It was great.

Still no sunset. It was overcast the first two days, but last night and tonight was clear until the western horizon clouded over.

After dinner, we got on our bikes and rode out of town in the dark and went to the beach. Had a half moon and some lightening. It was great. No light pollution at all. No hotels. No buildings and nothing at all for 14 miles to Hatteras Inlet. I could set a cot out there and sleep next to the ocean and listen to it forever.

Battered, Bruised and Beached

2010-07-18T18:46:00.007-05:00

Made it past Knoxville and stopped at a KOA, Thursday night. Got the creeps and couldn't do it. Drove on and stopped at Big Creek in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Only has twelve sites and we got the next to last. Beautiful area with wide, rocky, loud creek right next to the campground. We went to sleep to the sound of water.

Friday, got up and decided to go on a hike before driving across North Carolina. A trailhead to a spur off the Appalachian Trail was near our camp site. Two miles to the Trail. Turned out it was straight up a mountain. We couldn't believe two miles could be that far. Beautiful trail but exhausting and seemingly never ending, but, we made it!

Ten minutes later, on the way down, I had a.... hiking accident. The trail was rough, with lots of roots and big rocks. I fell and, since it was such a steep grade, flew straight down onto my nose, then shoulder, then hands. We've spent the last couple days trying to document my black and blue nose (and the two potential black eyes) with the camera. Eyes are OK. Nose still black and blue. We're still not sure it's not broken.

Katie was a champ and got us all the way across the state to Rocky Mount where we ate a full meal and had a shower and bed. Saturday we drove to Hatteras. I hate bridges but crossed three or four of them without a mental breakdown. Perfect timing to Hatteras. The ferry actually got us going early. We were the last car on.

Got to Ocracoke and into our condo. That's not what it is really like. It is right on the marina of Silver Lake (the harbor that Ocracoke village is on). We have two floors over a store. It is palatial on the inside. Screened porch, on the top floor, where we can eat, play cards, drink beer and watch the boats come and go and the people on the street. Endlessly entertaining.

Into the sand and surf, this morning. Very windy and rough water, but still great to be on the beach. Took a bike ride around the village this afternoon and discovered some really old cemetary's. Also discovered Zilley's and sampled several from their amazingly large beer selection. Not a bad way to spend Sunday afternoon.

Surf and Turf

2010-07-18T14:16:00.001-05:00

This would never happen here

2010-06-15T22:18:00.010-05:00

Today the British Prime minister, David Cameron, admitted that the British Army shot and killed civilians, without provocation. He then apologized for it. No mush mouth. No weasel words.

Cameron's announcement accompanied the release of the Saville Report, the culmination of a 12 year investigation into the Bloody Sunday killings in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on January 30, 1972. It is unthinkable that Barack Obama would speak, or act, as boldly as the British Conservative PM did today.

The announcement was cheered by thousands in Guildhall Square, Londonderry. The crowd included survivors and relatives of the shootings. My wife attended the hearings in Guildhall, in 2002, and I've stood in the square and later on Derry's walls, looking down into Bogside, imagining those events, three decades ago.

We never got closure for Kent State. We never got impeachment for Iran/Contra or for torture or for illegal wire tapping. We won't get any justice for the pollution of the Gulf Coast either. However, for one day, we can see and hear victims vindicated, even if it's in another land.

This made me smile and clap

2009-11-19T19:28:00.000-06:00

Jimmy does Dallas

2009-11-11T00:20:00.002-06:00

Man on Wire

2009-10-21T21:12:00.002-05:00

Go rent the DVD. Trust me. Yeah, it's a documentary, but it kept the wife and I sitting straight up throughout. For those of you not as old as I, Philippe Petit performed a series of illegal high wire acts, across the world, in the early 1970s. Man on Wire mostly tells the story of his secretively securing a cable between the top of the two towers of the NY World Trade Center in 1974. He then proceeded to spend 45 minutes pacing back and forth between the two towers (as well as dancing and laying down).

The movie is beautiful. Katie kept saying, "he is beautiful". I never talk during movies, TV etc. We kept up a constant babble of half formed sentences. The rest of the time I motioned at the TV screen as my mouth hung open.

It was beautiful. It was scary. It was sprittual. I felt like I'd been to church.

This guy has broken all his promises

2009-10-13T12:27:00.001-05:00

Obama is batting about 1.000. He finally won over skeptics, like me, in the primaries, by promising to restore the Constitution, impose the rule of law and abolish torture. He ranted about wiretapping. He ridiculed Cheney. Government would be transparent. He'd end those practices that rewarded companies for shipping American jobs overseas.

Well, look what another day brings. He's fought every measure to restore civil liberties. He's prevented any prosecutions of high level Bush administration criminals. He claims to be ending torture but moves the operation from Gitmo to Baghram. He threatens to withhold information that could protect British citizens from terror attacks if their court releases the truth about the torture of a petitioner. He claims 'state secrets' if our courts want to give the day in court to torture victims. He continues wiretapping. He meets with energy and pharmaceutical companies in private. He IS Cheney.

He filled his administration with the Wall Street masterminds of the financial collapse and they have saved the perpetrators from the moral hazard of their actions. Now he shelves his campaign promise to stop giving tax breaks to companies who ship jobs overseas.

All of you who are hot for universal healthcare, who thinks he really supports even a watered down public option, ask yourself this: When did it become health care reform. Remember when it was 'health care for all'? Ah, but now he has a Nobel Prize and nobody can touch him.

Is this a good idea?

2009-10-10T23:00:00.004-05:00

Is this a good idea? They're bombing the moon!

Obama needs to get pushed

2009-04-29T23:44:00.001-05:00

These were CRIMES. How is this difficult? Obama needs to be forced down that path he doesn't want to take. The small fry, the "few bad apples" went to prison. I have no problem with that. We were brought up to believe that "ve ver under orders" was no excuse.

But, how can Obama allow Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, Yoo, Beybe, Rice and Gonzalez to escape prosecution? If they violated treaties prohibiting torture, they have committed crimes. Article VI of the Constitution states, "...all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the Supreme Law of the Land... " Barack Obama took an oath to the best of his ability "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

This is the beginning of the proof of what we've suspected about the Democrats' motives

2009-04-20T13:18:00.001-05:00

Why would a liberal member of Congress, from San Francisco pledge to take the rule of law (impeachment) off the table, as she reaches the pinacle of power? Why would a professor of constitutional law pledge to prosecute no law breakers, even for crimes as vile as torture and of wirtapping Americans, as he reaches the pinacle of power? Because Pelosi and Obama know that their party was complicit in all of it.

Harmon knew. Pelosi knew. Rockefeller knew. Reid knew. Hoyer knew. Durban and Obama went along.

Why did we elect these people in 2006? They conspired with the people they were supposed to protect us against. Why did we elect Obama? He was supposed to restore the Constitution. Damn! They took an oath!

What happened: No, I did not get a promotion.

2009-03-22T23:29:00.002-05:00

Yeah, this is one of those stories that would require us to be perched on bar stools with plenty of time. I was on a high wire act for two or three years. I'd finally gotten down off the thing and then they came after me. I have a big screw sticking out of my back.

The very short version is that I told all the powers what needed to happen to keep the wheels from coming off. They blew me off for two years and then, seven months too late, they came through with human resources. Everybody got the long knives out and needed a head to cut off. Mine apparently got offered up.

So, the public spin is that I've been reassigned because they need my expertise in data analysis and research, given my institutional memory. Most of campus knows something happened. People are scared (god, if they could do that to somebody like him), confused (don't know what to say to me), and angry (I have a friend who, without my input, declared my entire former staff persona non grata and deleted people from his distribution lists and disinvited them to events "I'm in Jim's column."). Me, I'm stuck in a closet and swing from depression to anger to relief.

My boss says she needs me ("I promise you are not being fired.") because "you know where the bodies are buried". It's ugly.

I'm back

2009-03-09T13:31:00.005-05:00

I haven't posted since June. It's been a rough, weird several months. I was obsessed with two things: work and the election. I was doing four people's jobs at work. My spare time (when I should have been sleeping) was spent thinking about the election. I was no fan of Obama, but voted for him. I got caught up in his speeches, like everyone, and then betrayed by his actions, like the FISA vote. However, he brings something positive out of the citizenry, expecially young people.

My daughter was an Obama volunteer at her college. On election night they spilled into the streets. She called me. She was ecstatic. I couldn't even understand her on the phone.

I was at some friends' in Carbondale. After Obama's victory speech, we had to drive through Carbondale. The Strip was filling up and was about to close. I drove toward campus and students were running from all directions. I've never seen such spontaneous joy. No anger. No fights. Happy people. Black and white.

The concert the Sunday before inauguration was inpirational. Pete Seeger leading the crowd in all the verses to 'This Land is Your Land'. What must he have thought? He outlived the rednecks that tried to kill Paul Robeson and him. He outlived the congressmen that tried to jail him. ... Then the following Tuesday and all the black folks that came on busses for the swearing in.

...Ah, but now it's March. State secrets, corporate welfare... same as it ever was. ...I'm back.

Pics from Bruges, Belgium

2008-06-15T21:27:00.001-05:00

Some pictures from our trip to Bruges Belgium are here. More later that Katie took with the good camera. Also, still, have some more from Amsterdam and a lot from Paris. We have some pics with us and the girls in them but will just send them to a few of you, later.

Bruges (or Brugge) is beautiful. It had been a big deal and then the harbor silted in. Ghost town until the 1800s when tourists rediscovered it. The landlady at the bed and breakfast we stayed at said Hitler deliberately didn't bomb it because of how old and beautiful it was. (He apparently had no such qualms about the rest of the country.)

Jimmy goes to the Netherlands

2008-06-11T23:09:00.001-05:00

This windmill was a few blocks from our hotel in Haarlem. We drank beer with the girls, ate Italian the first night and Greek the next. The partying and street noise kept me up all Saturday night. We shopped and bought bread and cheese in the market square. Toured St. Bavo's church.

Hillary didn't even vote "present"

2008-02-12T15:29:00.000-06:00

I have the perfect answer for Obama the next time Hillary starts talking about "voting present". Today, the Senate voted down, with 18 Democrats joining the Republicans, an amendment to remove telecom immunity from the FISA bill. Chris Dodd stayed up all night speaking on the Senate floor. This afternoon, I watched, live on C-span, while he made one of the most moving speeches I've ever seen in Congress.

Obama voted with the good guys. Hillary didn't vote.

On September 12, 2008, when the U.S. Senate voted away the rule of law, Senator Clinton was absent. She has failed one oath of office; she must never be allowed to take another.

The NYT's Krugman is wrong. I'd be pissed at Hillary even if Obama were never born.

2008-02-11T18:35:00.000-06:00

I am from Illinois and I made up my mind to vote for Obama at the last minute. Dodd and Kucinich were closer to my way of thinking and Edwards was growing on me. Dodd dropped out before our primary and Kucinich and Edwards were sinking; I took a chance on Obama. Everything I've seen in the last week confirms the choice. But, I'm no sweaty, glassy eyed captive of a cult.

As for Hillary, I owe her nothing. I remember February of five years ago. It was cold and rainy. Four hundred of us marched against the war, in my small town. We were alone. Where were the leaders of the congressional Democrats? They left us in the streets. They wanted to be President. I will not vote for them and they will not be President. Gebhart, Dashle, Lieberman, Kerry, Edwards, Dodd, then congressman and now governor Blagojevich, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I'd be pissed at Hillary even if Obama were never born. I admire him though, for how he has inspired young people. Of course they are excited! We should be glad. Those of us in our 50s have seen so much shit in this country, that actual youthful hope seems so strange to some that they mock it. Speaking as one Obama supporter, I know he's not a god, but I'm glad to see people taking a leap of faith in favor of something , for once, instead of in simple opposition. I may be as opposed to Hillary as I am in favor of Obama, but those thousands of young people supporting him are not a cult, they are a refreshing tide.

I smell a rat.

2007-12-12T22:59:00.000-06:00

Just in time for Christmas, something creepy this way comes. I haven't seen anything about it in the media, but look what the House of Representatives passed 404-6. Named the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, it's a proposal for a commission, hearings, reports etc. with the purpose of finding out if people are planning or thinking dangerous thoughts. It's dressed up as a way to prevent attacks like those in 2001 and those experienced in Europe and Israel, and is essentially to be an arm of the Department of Homeland Security. It's sponsors felt the need to insert lip service to civil liberties and constitutional rights. But, they didn't specify exactly what could and could not be done to subjects of inquiries or to those subpoenaed to testify before the commission. To his credit, my congressman, Jerry Costello, of Illinois, voted 'no'.

Where's the red line?

2007-12-10T22:38:00.000-06:00

It’s time to ask the Democrats a question: Do they have a moral map? And, if they do, where is the red line? At what point will they stop and stand up for what’s right and resist what’s wrong?

Apparently they are not at that point yet. Saturday, Nov. 24, they had Gen. Ricardo Sanchez give their response to President Bush’s weekly radio address. Gen. Sanchez was the military commander in overall charge, in Iraq, at the time of the Abu Ghraib torture episode. Prior to that, the Democratic Senate gave its advice and consent for the appointment of Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General. During confirmation hearings Mr. Mukasey could not find it within himself to condemn, as torture, vile acts that our own government has prosecuted, as war crimes, for over 100 years.

The Executive branch has tapped Americans phones and email, “disappeared” people and endangered intelligence agents for political purposes. How have the Democrats responded? Speaker of the House Pelosi says impeachment is “off the table” and Majority Leader Reid says the Senate “has other things to do” than censure the President. Apparently senators cannot multi-task.

Polls show 70% of Americans think the country is going in the wrong direction. If the Democrats have no moral compass, how are they to turn America around?

Watching the Burmese army crush the protests

2007-12-10T22:33:00.000-06:00

Watching the Burmese army crush the protests of Budhist monks made me sad, for my own country. Rather than pass legislation to restore our Constitution, Congress has shamed itself.

Our country has legalized torture, disappearances and, given the secrecy, we must assume extra-judicial executions as well. President Bush has admitted committing crimes: tapping citizens’ phones and computers. The President has secretly declassified information for the sole purpose of legalizing acts which would have otherwise subjected the Vice President, and others, to prosecution. The right of habeas corpus, protecting all in the English speaking world since King John signed the Magna Carta, in 1215, was surrendered by the Military Commissions Act of 2006. In August, Congress passed legislation, over a weekend, and in fear, that authorized even more phone tapping and email snooping on Americans.

A few months ago, when Sen. Feingold, introduced a motion of censure on the President and Vice President, Harry Reid, the Democrats’ leader, said the Senate had more important business. The Senate demonstrated their idea of importance last September by voting to condemn a newspaper ad, the facts of which were not in dispute, only its tactless headline, concerning a general. We are told that the Constitution cannot be restored, and the war not stopped, because they need a super majority of 60%. This is false. Legislation only needs 51% to pass. The argument then becomes that it takes 60% to overcome a veto or a filibuster. So what? Let them filibuster. What could be more important to debate at length, than our constitutional liberties? In Burma, the people lost, but their defenders, barefoot monks, stood up to guns and soldiers. In Washington, the Democrats couldn’t even stand up to a filibuster.

Saturday at the Shrimp Festival

2007-09-16T18:52:00.000-05:00

Spent Saturday afternoon at the Golconda Shrimp Festival. What a cool festival and town. Street was lined with motorcyclists, most of whom seemed to congregate outside the saloon. Great view of Ohio River at the end of the main street. Nice marina. Plenty of food on the street. Bands playing. Reasonably priced beer, though you had a different ticketing/token system than with the food vendors on the street.

We decided to camp at Dixon Springs State Park, nearby. This is a good place for day activities but questionable for camping. We camped there because it was convenient to Golconda and the Shrimp Festival. The park is right off IL 146, but that is one of the negatives. While camping, we could hear highway traffic all night.

Ghost Dance Canyon Trail is well worth the hike, with rock formations, small caves and a creek. However, again, you could hear the highway traffic the whole hike.

Campground was clean and it was nice to have tent campers (as we are) outnumber, or equal, RVs. But, mighty startling as we were setting up, was the loud, bellowing, otherworldly sound of chanting. We finally realized it must be coming from the Impact Incarceration camp next door to the park. We rode our bikes over, about 7pm and were greeted by a guard who told us the noise had been the prisoners engaged in tug-of-war. They quit at 7:00. However, we were awoken at 5:30, or 6:00, the next morning, to the sounds of prisoners shouting their way through calisthenics.

On the whole, a good time, though. We had a great campfire. Steaks and sweet potatoes over the open fire, bottle of wine, cards and great weather. Had another great breakfast fire, over which we perculated coffee, and made eggs, bacon and toast. Worked it all off with a bike ride through the park and a hike through the canyon.

Holy shit!

2007-05-15T21:20:00.000-05:00

Who would ever dream that former Attorney General John Ashcroft would come out of any story looking like the good guy? Given the fascist tactics of current Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and former White House chief of staff Andrew Card, Ashcroft appears to be a hero in the fight for liberty. Wow. How low have we sunk? Or did we always just misjudge the prude by the company he kept? See the story of today's congressional testimony here.

Molly Ivins: I miss her already.

2007-02-01T22:57:00.000-06:00

Our awful local paper, the Southern Illinoisan ran Molly, every Sunday, across the page from Anne Coulter. It was maddening. It is also not lost on me, that the last column I saw from Molly Ivins, was a call, to go out into the streets to stop the war.

I was watching reruns of the Sopranos last night, when my wife, who was at the computer cried, “Oh, no! Molly Ivens died!” She seemed to be in tears off and on last night.

Ninety nine percent of those who claim to be journalists should prostrate them selves begging Molly Ivins’s spirit’s forgiveness for pretending to be in the same profession as she. I’m going to call my senator and tell them to support Russ Feingold’s proposal to cut off funding for the war. I think she’d like that better than flowers.

The one senator not running for president

2007-02-01T22:43:00.000-06:00

The one senator not running for president is the only one with a clear eyed solution to the war. I was disappointed that Russ Feingold chose not to run for president. Now I see that he has more patriotism than ambition. He voted against starting the war and now he proposes to end it. Non-binding resolutions will not affect a President who ignores the law. Bush/Cheney will not be impressed by the Congressional equivalent of a student council resolution. Only action, such as cutting off funding by a defined date, will get the US out of this nightmare (we can't save the Iraqis; we've already ruined their country).

Hillary, Biden, Reid and the rest of the Democratic leadership gave us this war, when the Democratic Senate chose to vote for it in 2002. Then, many of them wanted to be president and were afraid the war would go well and they would be accused of voting wrong. Now they want to be president and they want to cover all bets. They'll vote for a non-binding resolution so they can say they oppose the war but not be accused of voting against the troops.

Feingold supports the troops. He wants to bring them home. Call your Senators and tell them to support him!

jc

Dictatorships are not always installed by coups

2006-10-06T17:41:00.000-05:00

Those who failed to oppose this are as guilty as the German Centrist Party

Dictatorships are not always installed by coups. Often they are voted in. In Germany, the act of surrender was the Enabling Act of 1933. After the Communists had been killed or arrested and most Socialists arrested or cowed, the Catholic Center party provided the margin of victory for the nazis.

Now, in the U.S., torture is legal and the right to habeas corpus discarded. The act of surrender was the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Those who should be ashamed, and blamed by history, are the Democrats who failed to vote against it, and the Democrats who didn't bother to filibuster.

This was a proud, free country. How sad, that it went quietly, with barely a wimper. It would have been sad enough, had the Constitution been lost, following a glorious and desparate fight. We've known for the last few years that Republicans are fascists. Unfortunately, the Democrats, unmindful of their oath of office, are enablers.

-- jimmycarl

[Read jimmycarl's other letters]

Permalink

Friday, October 06, 2006 5:29:32 PM

This is what patriotism REALLY sounds like

2006-10-05T21:24:00.000-05:00

Wow. I caught this about two thirds of the way through. Click here for the video and transcript of Keith Olbermann's special comment tonight on Countdown. He may be ripping off Edward R. Murrow, but it's OK. I'm sure Murrow's nodding from beyond. Good night and good luck, indeed.

Jimmy C.

Enough!

2006-09-24T21:11:00.000-05:00

Our once proud country is now on its knees, crouching behind torturers. The President wants Congress to legalize the CIA's use of torture and to be able to try and imprison people without their seeing the supposed evidence against them. He wants to get around the Geneva Conventions. Enough! Our country is being turned into something dirty. We used to be proud of it. Remember why? We looked down on tin horn dictators who 'disappeared' and tortured people? Now we're doing it. Remember when the Soviet Union was the bad bear, with its gulags? Now we're using secret prisons.

The Senators who opposed the President’s quest for impunity are now wanting to compromise. Our representatives need to understand that it's time to stand up and pick a side. There is no compromise on torture. You're either doing something vile, or you're not. There is no middle ground between decency and fascism.

No matter how bad things got in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia or Red China, the world could always look to America as a beacon of light and freedom. That is no longer true. We are the strongest country in the world. We are the richest. But we're not that beacon anymore. We can be. We don't have to be afraid of the dark. There is an old proverb, 'Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.' Call, write, email and FAX your Congressmen. Tell them to reject this cowardly legislation.

Jimmy C.

Two war criminals on a couch

2006-09-03T23:47:00.000-05:00

Saddam Hussein is going on trial for the second time. He'll now be tried for using chemical weapons on Kurdish civilians. He used them on the Iranian army, as well as the Kurdish civilians. Where did he get those weapons of mass destruction, that he used back in the 1980s? Click here to see Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein and Donald Rumsfeld making the dirty deal.

If there's any justice in this world, Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush will feel its blind wrath. If not in this world, then in the next!

jimmy c.

Olbermann channels Murrow

2006-09-02T22:22:00.000-05:00

Wow. Check out Keith Olbermann's smack back at Rumsfeld, on Video Dog.

How Ike Skelton could have said it in 25 words or less

2006-08-27T16:10:00.000-05:00

What he meant to say and what they should say

I think he meant to say that:

Iraq will be a mess until its political issues are addressed. Terrorism is not state-sponsored. We need NATO to help. Poverty contributes to terrorism.

Democrats need to repeatedly say:

Terrorists don't want to kill us because they hate our freedom. They want to kill us because they hate us. George Bush hates our freedom.

-- jimmycarl

[Read jimmycarl's other letters]

PermalinkTuesday, August 22, 2006 2:05:46 PM

Letters: The Pennsylvania Green Party/GOP nexus - Salon

2006-08-01T21:35:00.000-05:00

Letters: The Pennsylvania Green Party/GOP nexus - Salon: "This is another reason why I will never be a Democrat again.

The arrogance! Those votes do not belong to the Democrats. They belong to the voter, to give to whoever he wishes. Those contributors may have been Republicans but they were probably from Pennsylvania. What's wrong with giving it to whoever they want?

What's wrong with the Green's using it to fund their petition drive? Can't the Democrats stand the competition? If they stood for something they wouldn't have to worry about third parties. And for crying out loud, abortion is not a platform. If that's all the Greens stood for, they wouldn't exist. It's the Democrats that use it as a fundraising bogeyman. Boo! Vote for us or your kid can't have an abortion.

Where have the Democrats been the last five years? They voted to let Bush have his war, his tax cuts and the Patriot Act. They've been pipsqueaks about torture and domestic spying.
Geesh. If Democrats think my voting for Nader was so wrong, in 2000, why haven't they made any noise in opposing him since? ...Never mind. Back to the point. The constitution doesn't recognize a two party system. They're not your votes. Earn them!
-- jimmycarl "

Casualties of War: Lebanon�s Trees, Air and Sea - New York Times

2006-08-01T21:19:00.000-05:00

Casualties of War: Lebanon�s Trees, Air and Sea - New York Times

A Vacation in Lebanon

2006-07-18T22:33:00.000-05:00

My daughter, Alix, pointed out how real this war has quickly become. Last summer, we took a vacation to Greece. We're Greek-Americans and we visited our relatives. What if Greek terrorists had kidnapped a neighboring country's soldiers and lobbed a few missles their way? We would be outraged at the terrorists.

What if Greece was then bombed, by the offended country, whole neighborhoods of Athens destroyed, the country completely blockaded by sea, the Athens airport bombed beyond use? What if the main highway out of the country, to the north, was bombed? Who would we be angry at then?

How would we get out? How would we get home? Ah... you say the U.S. government will rescue us with cruise ships. What are we to do with our relatives? Wish them luck, wave and turn our backs? Now change the words above. Substitute Lebanon for Greece, Lebanese-Canadians for Greek-Americans, Hezbollah for Greek terrorists, Beirut for Athens. This story doesn't have a happy ending, if it has one at all.

Will we let the world end on our watch?

2006-07-02T12:41:00.000-05:00

So, why do you think there is flooding in New England, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.?Seems like something out of a movie that all the documents in the National Archives, except the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, have been threatened. Speaking of movies, go see An Inconvenient Truth.

Who ever thought we'd really see the end of the world? Or at least the end of the world, as we know it. Oh, yeah, we used to worry about nuclear war. But, now we have not only willed our children a ticking bomb, we have shortened the fuse. Global climate change, due to global warming, has already started. Mt. Kilamanjaro is losing its snow. Glacier National Park is losing its glaciers and the Artic Sea is losing its cap. Those of us who love going to the beach will find them no more. Those who live near the sea, in Bangla Desh, India and most island nations, will die. Millions will become refugees, leaving the immigration debate as a meaningless joke.

We've known this was coming but have allowed a President and Vice-President, opposed to environmental protection, to be elected. Our legislators are doing nothing. We have lost at least five years to this folly and will lose more if we don't demand immediate action.

Climatic changes will cause more deaths, destruction and political unrest than any terrorist plot. This is a matter of national security and human survival. There will be more Al Gore in the movie than some would like, but the movie discusses the science in terms all can understand and that can then be used to convince our friends, family and neighbors. This is an argument we must win, and now. Go see it. Then act, if you want your children to live in a world with sandy beaches, polar bears and peace.

This is what our elected representatives took an oath to uphold

2006-06-20T13:26:00.000-05:00

"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Article II, Section 4, Constitution of the United States of America

2006-06-05T18:03:00.000-05:00

Kerry DID hedge his bet

People, we all need to remember the 2004 race. In the course of the campaign, Bush asked the $64 question. There was only one answer, which Kerry should have hit out of the park, but he whiffed it.

Bush asked, if you'd known then what you know today, would you still vote for the resolution. There was only one answer! Kerry gave the other one. Kerry said that yes he would have still voted yes because, even though he thought then that the administration didn't know what it was doing, and proved it since, he thought giving the President the authorization was the right thing to do.

At least Edwards has said he now knows he blew it. Kerry was asked if he would say about Iraq, what he'd said about Vietnam: that it was a mistake. He said no.

Kerry talks a lot about Bush's mistakes and about what we should do now. The first thing should be to stand up and say we made a bad mistake. Then, and only then, can we get out of this. The alternative, as Kerry should remember, is to wait Kissinger's "decent interval". In the end, the result will be the same: a country worse off than when we invaded, our country broke and divided and thousands dead in vain.

So why do all the smart boys want to dump on Feingold? Ah, a prophet is cursed in his own land and time.

-- jimmycarl

[Read jimmycarl's other letters]

Salon.comMonday, June 05, 2006 1:35:14 PM

Phone Companies Using Front Groups?

2006-05-14T11:40:00.000-05:00

The bad guys are pretending they're the good guys. The phone companies and allies are hiding behind front groups trying to kill net neutrality. Don't be fooled; click here for details. And remember, call and write your congressman. There is a reason the big corporations are spending wads of money to kill net neutrality. It's just like there is a reason they spend millions on campaign contributions. Votes really count and net neutrality preserves an informed electorate.

Letters: Pelosi: Impeachment is "off the table" - Salon

2006-05-12T17:48:00.000-05:00

Letters: Pelosi: Impeachment is "off the table" - Salon: "Patriots worry about the Constitution first; politcal gain second.

No wonder people don't vote. No one represents them. This is how we keep getting into these messes. The smart boys, or in this case, Ms. Pelosi, are always looking after the main chance. She wants to take impeachment off the table because it might scare voters and prevent her from becoming Speaker of the House. She needs to worry about doing the right thing and then trusting the voters to do the same.

It appears that Bush and Cheney have broken the law. The Democrats don't have to campaign on a platform that they will impeach them, but they should not promise not to either. When/if they get a majority, they must impeach. They took an oath to defend the Constitution, not to win the Presidency in 2008.

Whether Cheney or Hastert ascend to office should not be the deciding factor. If the Democrats believe Bush or Cheney broke the law, they should impeach them and force the Senate to try them.

History shows that in a two year period, from 1973-1974, America got rid of Vice President Spriro Agnew and President Richard Nixon. Whether Hastert, or someone else, plays the role of Gerald Ford, the principal of self governement will have won. If the Democrats can't see this, they've lost all purpose. If we don't insist on this, we've lost our country.

-- jimmycarl"

Killing the CIA | Salon.com

2006-05-11T23:28:00.000-05:00

Killing the CIA Salon.com

Congress Must Not Sell Out the Internet

2006-05-04T21:21:00.000-05:00

The Congress must be persuaded that they must preserve Net Neutrality. Check out this article from the March 20 New Yorker . Then ask yourself why any Congressman, not criminally in the service of the corporate phone and broadband providers, would vote to end Net Neutrality. If they do, the Internet, as we have known it, is dead.

The mainstream media can no longer be trusted to deliver news and the government cannot be trusted to tell the truth. All we have is each other and the only way we can communicate is via a free Internet. Call, write and email your congressman. Insist they vote to preserve that freedom.

jimmy c.

Video Dog - Salon.com

2006-05-03T16:48:00.000-05:00

Video Dog - Salon.com

The Southern Illinoisan

2006-04-27T14:22:00.000-05:00

The Southern Illinoisan: "We need our country back, not what we have become

To the Editor:

We need our country back. We need the one we grew up in, that was the land of the free and home of the brave. Not the one that is spied on by its own government and thinks torture can protect it from harm.

Just a few short years ago, we were the country all the world looked up to. We were the example of every freedom fighter, the champions of human rights, the people protected by the Bill of Rights and the country founded on the Declaration of Independence. Now every dictator, from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, uses us as an example and an excuse. “We’re fighting terrorists,” they say.

How did it come to this? Terrorists, throughout history, have sought to commit acts so shocking that the regime and the people would change. The regimes would become more draconian and the people eventually turn against them. In a constitutional democracy, the leaders are supposed to resist the temptation of authoritarian and repressive means to protect the security of the people. Our government did not resist the temptation, nor the unconstitutional methods.

The result is that our President, his Cabinet and the Vice-President now claim that the Executive can commit any act in the name of national security. They claim impunity. They can arrest U.S. citizens without warrant or trial. They can hold prisoners incommunicado. They can torture. They can kidnap and have prisoners sent to other countries to be tortured. They can listen in on our phone calls, open our mail, read our email, track our web searches and follow us to the library. There are those who see nothing wrong with this. They are afraid and want to be safe. To them I say this: There is a name for a place where people are absolutely safe from terrorists and crime. It is called a police state.

Every government seeks to defend itself, provide security and fight back when attacked. There is no glory in that. Glory is in defending the nation and liberty at the same time. We need to be brave enough to be free.

We must start by making clear to our representatives that we still insist on being a nation under law, not men. Lawbreakers, elected to government, must be impeached. That is a hard thing, but it is our duty to our country, that, as Benjamin Franklin put it, is a republic, if we can keep it.

Jim Carl, Carterville"