« June 2007 | Main | August 2007 »
ebogjonson's July 2007 archive
July 24, 2007
liar
Posted by ebogjonson in politricknal sciences at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
July 22, 2007
these people are at war with you
by "these people" I mean Republicans and conservatives.
Congress' approval rating is below the President's because the country doesn't think very much is happening. Not very much is happening because the Republicans are on a pace to block more votes this Congressional session than have ever been in a session - ever.
Remember this bullshit in '05 about filibusters? Democrats caved on judicial appointees and agreed not to filibuster unless there were "extraordinary circumstances." I guess there must have been a lot of those this year for the Republicans.
Posted by ebogjonson in politricknal sciences at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
our friends in Iraq
so apparently we took out saddam in order to work with saddam
Posted by ebogjonson in Iraqpolitricknal sciences at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
July 15, 2007
the room
Writing is something you do alone in a room. Copy that sentence and put it on your wall because there's no way to exaggerate or overemphasize this fact. It's the most important thing to remember if you want to be a writer. Writing is something you do alone in a room.Before any issues of style, content or form can be addressed, the fundamental questions are: How long can you stay in that room? How many hours a day? How do you behave in that room? How often can you go back to it? How much fear (and, for that matter, how much elation) can you endure by yourself? How many years--how many years--can you remain alone in a room?
- Michael Ventura
To that I would add:
What did you do in the room today?
Did you run from the room or did hang in and face whatever it is that was locked up in there with you? (Keeping in mind that you brought whatever it was in with you.)
Did you walk out of the room or write out of it?
Me, I'm terrified of the room, kinda. I'm trying to scurry out of it even now by posting this, making you, gentle reader, my unwitting accomplice and enabler.
(Thanks, Kelley.)
Posted by ebogjonson in brain maintenance at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
July 14, 2007
our sick countrymen
I really can't get over this video. Besides the fact that old girl looks the neocon version of a hot ghetto mess, I find her blithe misspeak about who swore an oath to mind-boggling. We're never going to get anywhere on anything - a real Mideast policy, health care, whatever - until people like Sara Taylor are out of government. I'm not suggesting a Republican-style attorney purge, but we need to make it plain to the American people that vicious little hacks like Taylor have turned the entire government into a machine with no purpose beyond the advancement of nakedly partisan aims. These people are so up front about their shit not because they're morons but because the theory that all governance is politics lies at the foundation of their world view. As Kyle Sampson testified about the US attorney purge:
"The distinction between 'political' and 'performance-related' reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial," Kyle Sampson told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective ... is unsuccessful." [full story]
These are the same people who don't see a need for a wall between church and state, who believe in a unitary executive whose powers far exceed any of those claimed by American presidents ever. This is all of a piece.
Although Taylor put on the frazzled, "I'm going to cry" face a bunch of times during her testimony, she isn't some unlucky, low-level twit who got in over her head, she was political director for the Bush White House, a partisan operator just like Sampson who got into government precisely to serve party and patrons to the exclusion of all else, fuck the country, Constitution, fuck you, gentle reader. This particular cancer of the soul isn't a universal property of "conservatives." Libby judge Reggie Walton is a black neocon, but he's also a professional who put his legal and Constitutional obligations over his politics in the specific instance of the Libby trial. But people like Taylor have no honor and no professionalism, they represent something altogether different and significantly more sinister. When civil servants are willing to lie to Congress, ignore subpoenas, subvert the vote, and undermine the power of judges, ALL AT THE SAME TIME, we've entered a dangerous moment where the underlying legitimacy of the American government comes in to question. Unless the Democratic congress and a Democratic presidential administration aggressively investigates the full range of these peoples' malfeasance, all bets will be off.
That means trials, impeachments, ended careers, prison terms, disgrace, real accountability. We conduct politics like a video game with no death penalty - bad, malicious or incompetent players allowed to constantly respawn and clog the server with their bullshit, the pundits and politicians who advocate things like a disastrous, illegal, immoral war allowed to walk amongst us and cash checks as if nothing happened. Real accountability also means not listening to anybody who comes at you in the next 20 years talking some shit about the time having come for healing and unity. Lincoln can call for reconstruction after destroying the Confederacy, MacArthur can talk about a higher dignity on the deck of the USS Missouri, but until the back of conservative movement is broken, until the American political landscape is remade and the Supreme Court's retaken we're looking at a long, likely never-ending conflict and almost daily with these people.
Posted by ebogjonson in politricknal sciences at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
there is no mission, just war crimes
from Think Progress, h/t atrios
THE PRE-WAR MISSION WAS TO RID IRAQ OF WMDBush: "Our mission is clear in Iraq. Should we have to go in, our mission is very clear: disarmament." [3/6/03]
AFTER THE WAR BEGAN, THE MISSION EXPANDED
Bush: "Our cause is just, the security of the nations we serve and the peace of the world. And our mission is clear, to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." [3/22/03]
Bush: "Our forces have been given a clear mission: to end a regime that threatened its neighbors and the world with weapons of mass destruction and to free a people that had suffered far too long." [4/14/03]
THEN THE MISSION WAS COMPLETE
Bush: "On Thursday, I visited the USS Abraham Lincoln, now headed home after the longest carrier deployment in recent history. I delivered good news to the men and women who fought in the cause of freedom: Their mission is complete, and major combat operations in Iraq have ended." [5/3/03]
BUT THEN IT CONTINUED AGAIN
Bush: "The United States and our allies will complete our mission in Iraq." [7/30/03]
THEN THE MISSION WAS TO DEVELOP A FREE IRAQ
Bush: "That has been our mission all along, to develop the conditions such that a free Iraq will emerge, run by the Iraqi citizens." [11/4/03]
Bush: "We will see that Iraq is free and self-governing and democratic. We will accomplish our mission." [5/4/04]
AND TO TRAIN THE IRAQI TROOPS
Bush: "And our mission is clear there, as well, and that is to train the Iraqis so they can do the fighting; make sure they can stand up to defend their freedoms, which they want to do." [6/2/05]
Bush: "We're making progress toward the goal, which is, on the one hand, a political process moving forward in Iraq, and on the other hand, the Iraqis capable of defending themselves. And we will -- we will complete this mission for the sake of world peace." [6/20/05]
THEN IT SHIFTED TO ADVANCING DEMOCRACY
Bush: "We will stay as long as necessary to complete the mission. ... Advancing the ideal of democracy and self-government is the mission that created our nation -- and now it is the calling of a new generation of Americans." [11/30/05]
AND PROTECTING AMERICA FROM TERRORISTS
Bush: "In the coming days, there will be considerable reflection on the removal of Saddam Hussein from power and our remaining mission in Iraq...By helping the Iraqi people build a free and representative government, we will deny the terrorists a safe haven to plan attacks against America." [3/11/06]
Bush: "We will finish the mission. By defeating the terrorists in Iraq, we will bring greater security to our own country. And when victory is achieved, our troops will return home with the honor they have earned." [3/18/06]
THEN THE MISSION WAS PROVIDING SECURITY FOR THE IRAQI POPULATION
Bush: "In fact, we have a new strategy with a new mission: helping secure the population, especially in Baghdad. Our plan puts Iraqis in the lead." [1/13/07]
Bush: "[I]t's the combination of providing security in neighborhoods through these joint security stations, and training that is the current mission we're going through, with a heavy emphasis on security in Baghdad." [4/10/07]
AND NOW?
Bush: "It's a new mission. And David Petraeus is in Iraq carrying it out. Its goal is to help the Iraqis make progress toward reconciliation -- to build a free nation that respects the rights of its people, upholds the rule of law, and is an ally against the extremists in this war." [6/28/07]
Posted by ebogjonson in Iraqpolitricknal sciences at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
July 12, 2007
who would jesus yell at?
The first call to prayer by a Hindu religious leader in the Senate's history was temporarily interrupted up by Xtians.
But the true gospel isn't about hate. It's about cars. (h/t Lester.)
Posted by ebogjonson in politricknal sciences at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
July 9, 2007
more bella mafia
I'm not really here (I'm technically still getting my ass kicked in Seattle at Clarion), but I did want to share that the new Bidoun Magazine is out, with edits from Mike Vazquez and pieces by me, Jace Clayton/rupture, Anand Balakrishnan, Kai Friese, Nimco Mahamud-Hassan, Binyavanga Wainana, and Sophia Al-Maria. Bidoun's issues are always themed, so this installment's theme is "Failure" while my piece is about American Taliban John Walker Lindh. It's called "A Portrait of the Jihadist as a White Negro." Enjoy!
The webs being what they are I also got an email today from a blogger named XYBØRG, who is completely is completely already there in terms of thinking through some of the racial perversities of the current era. I actually already regularly check their youtube feed, which is a great source of black Muslim material. (I owe you an note XYBØRG!)
more later.
(I'm obviously still alive. I'm resisting the urge to blog Clarion, so you can read about it here and here and here, fanning out to other pages as needed/inclined. I don't have much to say except that it's been amazing, troubling, depressing, banal, trying and strange all at the same time - everything you'd expect from a 6 week writing marathon.)
Posted by ebogjonson in me me merace and other identities at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
July 6, 2007
some clarionites 001
Posted by ebogjonson in clarion and sci-fi writing at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
subscribe to my feed