I spend a lot of time over at the left-wing blog Daily Kos. It's far and away America's most-visited political blog, with around 800,000 visits and over a million page views a day now. You can see the Daily Kos visitor stats here.
Daily Kos is full of passion, and anger at what's happening in America and around the world, and it's bursting with inspiration, ideas, clear thinking and support for fellow Kossaks.
It's this aspect of support that I want to talk about today - and the fact that it's even needed in the first place. This is a story about Speaking Truth to Power - and how it can get you into trouble.
There's a diary on the Recommended List today by kestrel9000. kestrel9000 is a DJ in Virginia, on a oldies (Classic Top 40) radio station called Magic 95.5 WBOP FM. It streams online so you can listen live. It's brilliant. I've been listening for past few hours, and I've loved every song they've played so far (and have sung along with quite a few!). You can listen to his show on weekdays between 10am and 2pm Eastern Time. His real name is Eddie Garcia.
Anyway, kestrel9000's story doesn't have anything to do with the music he plays - it's all about what he said on-air yesterday - and how he's feeling right now about the consequences of what he said. You can read his diary on DailyKos - Ay, cabròn, now I've done it.
Today, during his radio show, he read out Article 1, section 9 of the Constitution of the United States:The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
Then he pointed out that, in his opinion, neither of these conditions are met - America is in no sense in a Case of Rebellion or Invasion. And yet the signing into law of the Torture Bill - the Military Commissions Act 2006 has suspended the right of habeas corpus to anyone labelled an "unlawful enemy combatant" by George W Bush.
kestrel9000 also talked on-air about José Padilla, who's an American citizen accused of being a terrorist by the United States government. He's been in detention in a military prison since May 8, 2002. For the first three years of his detention he was held without charge, and without access to a lawyer; he is now charged with "conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim people overseas."
You can find out more about José Padilla at the end of this blog post. My God. It's a horrifying story, and it's not over yet. The US administration has in the past described José Padilla as an illegal enemy combatant, arguing that he was thereby not entitled to the normal protection of US law, nor protection under the Geneva Convention. The Military Commissions Act 2006 now legalises the ongoing mis-treatment and torture of US citizen José Padilla by the US government.
In his diary, kestrel9000 describes what happened on his radio show after he made his comments:And an hour later, three wingnut calls came in. Bam-bam-bam.
One person was a college professor demanding my on-air apology or termination of employment. Another was a woman who wanted to know where I got my law degree. The third, I think, was her husband. Three fascists, gathered around the coffeepot trying to figure out how to ruin the life of a patriot.
Now I need to point out that, thus far, kestrel9000's boss has not fired him. He still has his job right now. But he's scared. Really scared. He feels alone and is afraid that his career (and his ability to support his family) could be in jeopardy because he was brave/foolhardy enough to say what he thought on-air. That's why he wrote his diary on Daily Kos, and why he asked for support and reassurance from the Kos community.
And I guess this is what I find completely and absolutely astonishing. How did America get to a point where someone reading out a section of the Constitution can be accused of - I'm not actually sure what - but something which requires an on-air apology or the termination of his employment? And since when did you need a law degree to read the Constitution and to understand that habeas corpus has been suspended by the Military Commissions Act under circumstances that are fundamentally un-Constitutional? And how is it that a broadcaster such as Eddie Garcia (kestrel9000's real name) can feel such fear for his job, just by speaking the truth?
Why isn't the American public protesting in the streets against this latest reduction in their freedoms? Why aren't more people publicly questioning what the Bush regime is doing? Where is the outrage at the direction in which this once-great country has been moving for the past 6 years? Why aren't the ordinary folk of America appalled at the gradual reduction of their inalienable rights as Americans? Why do they not understand what they are losing, bit by bit, degree by degree? And how did America reach the point where laws are able to be passed legalising torture, where habeas corpus is suspended, and where the President has the right to have anyone imprisoned indefinitely without trial or representation?
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? And why isn't there a bloody REVOLUTION against it?
This, to me, is chilling. The fact that kestrel9000, just an ordinary American who happens to have access to a microphone and a bunch of listeners, is now afraid for his job, his family and his own safety, is something I find quite horrific. The guy can't read out a section of the Constitution without being afraid of the consequences??? Holy shit! What happened to you, America?
I guess you might be wondering, as I'm a Kiwi, and I live in New Zealand rather than the US of A, why I'm so interested in American politics, and why I write so many blog posts about the state America finds itself in. You might be feeling a little resentful that I have the temerity to point out what I see as wrong in a country that isn't mine. You might not appreciate the fact that I'm suggesting you vote in next month's mid-terms. What right do I have to pass judgement on your country, you may ask?
I think firstly it's because what happens in America affects what happens in the rest of the world. Like it or not, America is the only superpower on the planet right now, and the fact that it's being ruled by a man I believe to be a sociopath, in a manner more befitting a King than a President, scares the shit out of me.
My family lives in the UK, and as a direct result of Bush and Blair's policies on Iraq, they are now more at risk from terrorist attacks than at any time since the height of the IRA's terror campaign.
I see estimates of the dead in Iraq since the war began, and I am horrified that over 2,750 American lives and up to 600,000 Iraqi lives have already been sacrificed by Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and the rest of the criminals in the White House. Sacrified for a lie, for oil, for imaginary WMD, in order to force democracy at the point of a gun, for whatever-the-hell this week's "reason" for the invasion might be - and still Bush insists on "staying the course" in Iraq, even as that beleaguered nation decends into civil war and anarchy.
I look around at places in the rest of the world where the Bush regime is meddling. His international "policies" have made the situation in North Korea worse, not better, and I am certainly not happy about the fact that a nation in my part of the world is now happily testing nuclear weapons and rumbling about the consequences of the US declaring war on them! I worry for the people of Syria and Iran, and wonder whether Rove has an "October Surprise" lined up (aimed at increasing Republicans' popularity in the polls) which might include invading one, or nuking the other.
I see ordinary Americans slowly but surely losing the very freedoms that Bush has sworn an oath to protect, and I see him and his cohorts destroying, piece by piece, the Constitution that his country was founded upon. I see them paying scant regard to the opinions of anyone else in the rest of the world, and I see their arrogance as they stomp all over the rights of ordinary citizens in their own country - and I wonder when (or even if) America is going to wake up and realise what's happening in "the land of the free and the home of the brave". From over here, it doesn't look as free to me as it was even six years ago, and the brave appear to be very few and far between right now.
The only power I have, not being able to vote or make financial contributions to the Democratic campaign in the US, is to get as informed as I can, to speak out, and to write what I know and how I feel in my blog. That's it.
I believe in fairness, justice and truth. I do not believe that the decisions made by the leader of any country should be above the law, and I do not believe that the decisions made about America by George Bush are in the best interests of anyone except those in power, and the ultra-rich "base" they represent.
Bush is hovering on only 30% approval right now, and over two thirds of Americans believe that the War on Iraq is wrong and getting wronger by the day. That gives me hope, but only if your average American cares enough, or realises he/she is in sufficient danger to actually get off their collective ass and vote on November 7. If the landslide in favour of the Democratic Party is large anough, I'm praying that Rove and Co won't be able to Diebold the results and steal yet another election - because whatever decisions are made in America eventually affect the rest of the world. And right now, I'd much rather those decisions were made by a consensus of the true representatives of The People of the USA, rather than by George W Bush - "The Decider".
For my many friends who live in the US, I would like a return to a nation where the right to free speech is upheld, and where people like kestrel9000 feel they can publicly question their representatives without running the risk of losing their job - or worse. I would like to see a country where the people are free to demonstrate, or campaign, or speak out, or even agitate against decisions made by their government. Where Speaking Truth to Power does not get you into trouble. A country where you don't have to fear that one day you will be named "unpatriotic", "un-American" or "enemy combatant", tortured and imprisoned indefinitely without trial.
My American friends fear that their country is moving inexorably in the direction of Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao and Pinochet. Your vote on November 7 can and will make a difference. Please use it, for all of us.
Background info on José Padilla
- from lawyer Glen Greenwald's blog Unclaimed Territory - The Bush administration's torture of U.S. citizen Jose Padilla:The Bush administration's May, 2002 lawless detention of U.S. citizen Jose Padilla -- on U.S. soil -- was, as I recounted in my book, the first incident which really prompted me to begin concluding that things were going terribly awry in our country. The administration declared Padilla an "enemy combatant," put him in a military prison, and refused to charge him with any crime or even allow him access to a lawyer or anyone else. He stayed in a black hole, kept by his own government, for the next three-a-half-years with no charges of any kind ever asserted against him and with the administration insisting on the right to detain him (and any other American citizen) indefinitely -- all based solely on the secret, unchallengeable say-so of the President that he was an "enemy combatant."
To this day, I have trouble believing that we have a Government that claims this power against American citizens and has exercised that power and aggressively defended it -- and even more trouble believing that there are so many blindly loyal followers of that government who defend that conduct. The outrage that it provokes when thinking about it has not diminished even a small amount and does not diminish no matter how many times one reads, writes or speaks about it. It is as profound a betrayal of the most core American political principles as one can fathom.
The Bush administration finally charged Padilla with a crime (after 3 1/2 years of detention) only because the U.S. Supreme Court was set to rule on the legality of their treatment of Padilla, and indicting Padilla enabled the administration to argue that his case was now "moot." The Government's indictment made no mention of the flamboyant allegation they originally trumpeted to justify his lawless incarceration -- that he was a "Dirty Bomber" attempting to detonate a radiological bomb in an American city (because the "evidence" for that accusation was itself procured by torture and was therefore unreliable and unusable). Instead, the indictment contained only the vaguest and most generic terrorism allegations. Since then, the federal judge presiding over Padilla's case (in the Southern District of Florida) has repeatedly expressed skepticism over the Government's case against him and has, on several occasions, admonished them to provide more specific information setting forth exactly what Padilla is alleged to have done.
Please go read Glenn's account of the treatment of José Padilla in its entirety. It's an absolutely shocking story. José is an American citizen, born in the US. During the first three years and eight months of his incarceration he was kept in complete isolation, with no access to the outside world, no watch or clock, no view of anything outside his cell at all and he was tortured. Endlessly. Extreme sleep deprivation (his steel bed didn't even have a mattress for most of that time!), shacked in stress positions for hours on end, threatened with knives, threatened with imminent execution, hooded, threatened with removal from the US and imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay, given "truth" drugs against his will... the list goes on and on. It's awful - and the Torture Bill makes it legal.
Even if José is a terrorist - and the evidence for that is sketchy to say the least - can this treatment be justified? Doesn't torture of a captive make you as bad as the terrorists themselves? It's morally wrong! If you can't get at the truth without resorting to cruel and inhuman treatment (which won't give you the truth anyway!) then either you're not doing your job properly, or the truth is not what you believe it to be. Either way, you lose if you stoop to that level. It disgusts me, and it demeans you.
I didn't mean to write this much today, and I didn't mean for this to turn into such a rant, either. I guess I'm just shocked and appalled that this is happening in America, and that many Americans are content to just stand aside and let it happen. Many of them haven't even bothered to find out what is happening, and that saddens me greatly. So in case you are interested in finding out information served to you from a left-wing viewpoint...
Here's a bit more background info on Daily Kos:
Daily Kos was set up by Markos Alberto Moulitsas Zúniga who has this to say about the purpose of his blog:This is a Democratic blog, a partisan blog. One that recognizes that Democrats run from left to right on the ideological spectrum, and yet we're all still in this fight together. We happily embrace centrists like NDN's Simon Rosenberg and Howard Dean, conservatives like Martin Frost and Brad Carson, and liberals like John Kerry and Barack Obama. Liberal? Yeah, we're around here and we're proud. But it's not a liberal blog. It's a Democratic blog with one goal in mind: electoral victory. And since we haven't gotten any of that from the current crew, we're one more thing: a reform blog. The battle for the party is not an ideological battle. It's one between establishment and anti-establishment factions. And as I've said a million times, the status quo is untenable.
Daily Kos FAQs are here. There are currently over 100,000 registered members of DKos, each of whom is allocated a UID number and is allowed to write one diary per day, which is posted on the site. A Kos diary is pretty much the same as a post on a blog. Members can also comment on other diarists' daily diaries. Your UID number indicates how long you've been a member of DKos, with lower numbers indicating an earlier sign-up date. My number is 29543.
Technorati tags: Daily Kos, Markos, kestrel9000, Eddie Garcia, Glen Greenwald, Unclaimed Territory, José Padilla, George Bush, Military Commissions Act, Torture Bill, habeas corpus, torture, human rights, War on Terror, American politics.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Speaking Truth to Power - can get you into trouble
First they came for the Jews... variations on a theme
So. It's begun. This is the first move on the part of the Bush regime, now legally able to - well, pretty much do what they want to anyone they want. This is one of the many elements of the new Torture Bill, the Military Commissions Act 2006.
From today's Washington Post:
Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed by inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
In a notice dated Wednesday, the Justice Department listed 196 pending habeas cases, some of which cover groups of detainees. The new Military Commissions Act (MCA), it said, provides that "no court, justice, or judge" can consider those petitions or other actions related to treatment or imprisonment filed by anyone designated as an enemy combatant, now or in the future.
It makes me think of Pastor Martin Niemöller's famous poem, First they came..., his cry of protest against those Germans who did nothing to stop the Nazi rise to power, and who stood by as the Nazis purged group after group of "undesirables" in their country.Here's the original version in German, followed by the English translation:
Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.
Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.
Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.
Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.
-----------------------------------------------------
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
after all I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
after all I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
after all I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
-----------------------------------------------------
There have been many variations on the theme since the poem was first written. Trolling around the internet I found quite a few. Here are some of them.
First they came for the Socialists, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left
to speak up for me.
Common American and English poster version
-----------------------------------------------------When they came for the Jews and the blacks, I turned away
When they came for the writers and the thinkers and the radicals and the protestors, I turned away
When they came for the gays, and the minorities, and the utopians, and the dancers, I turned away
And when they came for me, I turned around and around, and there was nobody left...
Hue and Cry, 1991
-----------------------------------------------------
First they put away the dealers,
keep our kids safe and off the street.
Then they put away the prostitutes,
keep married men cloistered at home.
Then they shooed away the bums,
then they beat and bashed the queers,
turned away asylum-seekers,
fed us suspicions and fears.
We didn't raise our voice,
we didn't make a fuss.
It's funny there was no one left to notice
when they came for us.
NOFX - "Re-gaining Unconsciousness"
-----------------------------------------------------
One day they came and they took the Communists
And I said nothing because I was not a Communist
Then one day they came and they took the people of the Jewish faith
And I said nothing because I had no faith left
One day they came and they took the unionists
And I said nothing because I was not a unionist
One day they burned the Catholic churches
And I said nothing because I was born a Protestant
Then one day they came and they took me
And I could say nothing because I was as guilty as they were
For not speaking out and saying that all men have a right to freedom
On any land
I was as guilty of genocide
As you
All of you
For you know when a man is free
And when to set him free from his slavery
So I charge you all with genocide
The same as I
One of the 18 million dead Jews
18 million dead people
Charles Mingus - "Don't Let It Happen Here"
-----------------------------------------------------
First they came for the addicts.
But I was not an addict.
Bad people. Dangerous people.
Better off our streets.
Then they came for the drunkards.
But I was not a drunkard.
Bad people. Dangerous people.
Better off our streets.
Then they came for the smokers.
But I was not a smoker.
Bad people. Dangerous people.
Better off our streets.
Then they came for the poets.
And I
could not
stop
writing.
RealChangeNews.org
-----------------------------------------------------
First they came for the blacks (and the Latinos and the American Indians and the Asians).
I was silent. I was not black (or Latino or American Indian or Asian).
Then they came for the gays and lesbians.
I was silent. I was not gay or lesbian.
Then they came for the kids with cleft palates, missing limbs, speech defects and other physical or mental defects.
I was silent. I had no such defects.
Then they came for the nerds, dweebs and geeks.
I was silent. I was not a nerd, dweeb or geek.
Then they came for the fat, wimpy and ugly kids.
I was silent. I was not fat, wimpy or ugly.
Then they came for the kids with attention deficit disorder.
I was silent. I did not have attention deficit disorder.
And then they came for me.
There was no one left to speak for me.
Unknown
-----------------------------------------------------
First they came for the uninsured (by passing an unenforceable health insurance portability bill that prohibits private health insurers from imposing preexisting condition exclusions beyond twelve months, but not guaranteeing access to the same benefits or limiting the premiums that can be charged).
But my family and I have health insurance, so I wasn't concerned.
Then they came for Medicaid recipients (by allowing states greater flexibility to get around federal standards designed to ensure that low income persons had access to a comprehensive benefit package). Now states can force Medicaid recipients into low cost Medicaid-only managed care plans with minimal federal oversight. One Medicaid program has resorted to an exclusive list of durable medical equipment without exceptions to restrict this benefit regardless of the type of equipment that can improve function and is medically necessary according to the doctor. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals initial ruling in the Desario case is to judge the adequacy of Medicaid benefits by whether they meet the needs of the "average patient" not the needs of persons with rare, unusual or costly treatment needs, even if it imposes a "death sentence" on some Medicaid recipients).
But I have private insurance, so I wasn't concerned.
Then they came for Medicare beneficiaries (by capping total reimbursement to Medicare providers based on previous utilization levels that create incentives for Medicare providers, like home health agencies, to withhold care from persons with the greatest needs who are less profitable to serve; healthy Medicare beneficiaries will be encouraged to set up Medical Savings Accounts to ensure control over the health care services they think they need, and to seek services from physicians who are not satisfied with the Medicare payment fee schedules by using a private fee for service contract, even though this undermines public leverage over provider reimbursement in the Medicare program).
But they told me I would have more "choices" so I wasn't concerned.
Then they came for persons with private insurance (when my employer told me that I could only choose between two policies in a low cost health plan selected by my employer).
But I thought I was generally healthy so I wasn't concerned.
Then I developed a chronic illness which led to a disability that required some durable medical equipment.
But my health plan decided that it was not part of the benefit package even though my doctor thinks it is medically necessary.
Unfortunately, there is no one left to speak up for me.
Bob Griss, Director of the Center on Disability & Health in Washington, DC and a board member of UHCAN
-----------------------------------------------------
First they came for the fourth amendment,
and I did not speak out, because I didn't deal drugs.
They came for the fifth amendment,
and I was silent because I owned no property involved in crimes
They came for the sixth amendment,
and I did not protest because I was innocent.
They came for the second amendment,
and I said nothing because I didn't own a gun.
And then they came for the first amendment,
and I could say nothing at all.
Illinois State University College of Fine Arts
-----------------------------------------------------
First Bush and Gonzales came for the terrorists,
but I was not a terrorist, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the enemy combatants,
but I was not a combatant, so I did not object.
Then they came for the protestors resisting "free speech zones" near Bush campaign rallies,
but I was not a protestor and so I only voiced my unease.
Common Dreams - First They Came For The Terrorists...
-----------------------------------------------------
You have a chance to speak up on November 7. Please use it! GOTV.
Interesting links
- A brief history of habeas corpus
- Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases
- First they came...
- First They Came for the Jews - t-shirt from CafePress
- First They Came For The Terrorists...
- Persecution Poetry - standing on the toes of giants
- Niemoeller Quotation Page
- The death of habeas corpus - and the best way to boil a frog
Technorati tags: Pastor Niemoller, Martin Niemoller, George Bush, Military Commissions Act, Torture Bill, habeas corpus, Geneva Conventions, torture, human rights, War on Terror, American politics.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
The death of habeas corpus - and the best way to boil a frog
Do you know the best way to boil a frog? If you set a pot of water to boil, and drop the frog in once the water's good and hot, the frog will jump right out again and escape.
No, the right way to boil a frog is to pop him in the water while it's still cold. The frog's feeling happy, swimming around in his new cool pool, not a worry in the world. Then gradually... bit by bit, start to turn up the heat. Not too fast, mind - increase the temperature just a fraction at a time, and make sure that Froggy is completely used to the slightly higher temperature before you raise it again. Patiently continue to increase the heat, degree by degree...
By the time your frog realises the water he's swimming in is now too hot to handle... he'll be dead.
Yesterday George W Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act (MCA), better known as The Torture Bill. It's the culmination of six years-worth of turning up the heat on the citizens of the US by George Bush and his cohorts, and another nail in the coffin of that "quaint" old document, The Consitution of the United States of America.
Today, if he so desires, Bush can have you picked up off the street and rendered to Guantanamo Bay, or one of his Black Prisons located in various unscrupulous countries around the world. He can have you tortured in order to force a confession out of you. He can imprison you indefinitely, and you will have no right to a hearing where he would have to prove that you have been imprisoned lawfully, because the ancient right to habeas corpus has been partially suspended in the US by the passing into law of the MCA.
If you're lucky enough to ever have your case brought to court (remember, this law allows him to imprison you without charge indefinitely), he can bring evidence against you which neither you or your lawyers (if you're fortunate enough to get a lawyer) will ever be allowed to see because it's classified; he can have you brought to trial on hearsay evidence alone; and he can have you sentenced to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses.
What does Bush have to prove in order to be allowed under law to carry out these appalling acts of injustice? Nothing. All Bush, "The Decider" needs to do is to declare you "an unlawful enemy combatant". You could be an American citizen or a visitor to the US - it makes no difference. The law is so vaguely worded that anyone in the US can now potentially be picked up, declared an ememy combatant, and "disappeared". For ever.
And don't think you could call upon the Geneva Conventions which guarantee you humane treatment and prevent your captors from torturing you. Under the MCA no defendant may invoke the Geneva Conventions in legal proceedings on their behalf. Oh, and GWB gets to determine “the meaning and application” of the Geneva Conventions banning the torture of prisoners. Told you he was The Decider.
You want more? Here's more from Wikipedia:
If the government chooses to bring a prosecution against the detainee, a military commission is convened for this purpose. The following rules are some of those established for trying unlawful enemy combatants who are not citizens of the United States. [Sec.948b (a)] The Act does exclude these rules from being applied when trying unlawful enemy combatants who are American citizens, per sections 948b(a) and 948c.
"Ah get over it!" you cry. "Stop being so melodramatic! This law is part of The War on Terra, right? They're after The Terrists, not innocent people like me! If I've done nothing wrong, I have nothing to fear!"
Oh really? You think so?
There are thousands of examples from the US and the world over of men and women convicted wrongly for crimes they did not commit. In the UK, where I'm from, we had the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven.
Seventeen men and women, the youngest of whom was only 14 years old at the time, convicted and imprisoned by over-zealous police forces for IRA bombings which they had nothing to do with. 17 years and three appeals after they were first convicted the Birmingham Six were finally released by the Court of Appeal. The Guildford Four were released on appeal after more than 15 years in jail. The convictions of the Maguire Seven were overturned some time after their sentences were completed. Too late for Giuseppe Conlon, father of Gerard Conlon (a member of the Guildford Four), who died while still in prison. All seventeen claimed they had been beaten and tortured by police in order to gain confessions. Not a single police officer was ever charged.
Google "wrongly convicted" and see what comes up. Here's a piece about wrongful convictions in America from USA Today - Report: Thousands wrongly convicted each year - there are many, many more.
Remember Abu Ghraib? The horrifying pictures in this blog are from Abu Ghraib. American soldiers torturing prisoners. It's happened already. What's to say this couldn't happen to "unlawful enemy combatants" detained under the Military Commissions Act? What's to say this couldn't happen to you?
You think it can't happen in America? Think again, little frog. The water's almost at boiling point now. Can you feel it?
Thanks to the PATRIOT Act your President already has the right to listen in to your phone calls (without a warrant), read your emails and find out which websites you visit (and which library books you borrow) without telling you. His people can enter your home without warning or warrant (they can apply for that after the fact) - and they don't have to tell you they were ever there, either. Don't believe me? Follow the links at the end of this post - it's all there, and it's all true.
And now they can detain you indefinitely without ever telling you why, and without ever having to bring you to trial. And they can torture you with impunity while you're imprisoned.
You have one last chance to turn off the heat. It's on November 7. Think about it. And vote!
And as you consider this latest reduction in your freedoms, and this latest attack on all that Americans hold true and sacred, and what that might mean to you, or your neighbours, or your family and friends, I'll give the last word to Keith Olbermann, because he always says it so much better than I ever could. Keith, you rock!
Here's a bit of it:We have handed a blank check drawn against our own freedom to a man who has said it is unacceptable to compare anything this country has ever done to anything the terrorists have ever done.
We have handed a blank check drawn against our own freedom to a man who has insisted again that "the United States does not torture. It's against our laws and it's against our values" and who has said it with a straight face while the pictures from Abu Ghraib Prison and the stories of Waterboarding figuratively fade in and out, around him.
We have handed a blank check drawn against our own freedom to a man who may now, if he so decides, declare not merely any non-American citizens "unlawful enemy combatants" and ship them somewhere—anywhere - but may now, if he so decides, declare you an "unlawful enemy combatant" and ship you somewhere - anywhere.
And if you think this hyperbole or hysteria, ask the newspaper editors when John Adams was president or the pacifists when Woodrow Wilson was president or the Japanese at Manzanar when Franklin Roosevelt was president.
And if you somehow think habeas corpus has not been suspended for American citizens but only for everybody else, ask yourself this: If you are pulled off the street tomorrow, and they call you an alien or an undocumented immigrant or an "unlawful enemy combatant" - exactly how are you going to convince them to give you a court hearing to prove you are not? Do you think this attorney general is going to help you?
A full transcript of this Special Comment can be found at Crooks and Liars, which is where I downloaded the video from. Thanks, as always, guys. Now go give Keith some love.
Useful Links
Technorati tags: Keith Olbermann, Countdown, George Bush, Military Commissions Act, Torture Bill, PATRIOT Act, habeas corpus, Geneva Conventions, torture, human rights, Abu Ghraib, warrantless wiretap, GOTV, War on Terror, American politics.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Dim view from India
I get the Guardian Weekly delivered every week - it's one of my "windows on the world". It's a great little paper - incorporating a whole range of articles from the week's UK Guardian newspaper. I like it because it's a good old lefty publication (I used to read it when I lived in the UK) and it gives me a wider view of world events and politics than I can get from our Kiwi papers. Plus it's great to read on the bus...
There was an absolutely BRILLIANT letter published in last week's edition, which I'm going to include here in its entirety, because I think it's absolutely spot-on, and beautifully written. I hope you agree.
So you see a picture of a naked black child clinging to her mother under a headline "High Birthrate threatens to trap Africa in cycle of poverty" (September 1). What do you think? If only they would stop having children, perhaps. Maybe you analyse the many skirmishes in the South in terms of resource competition.Jeph Mathias
Then come the statistics - eight children per woman in Niger - and you worry about the environmental degradation wrought by so many desperate people. You pity our huddled masses and maybe you care enough to make a donation to a family planning NGO or else to one focused on conservation.
Now let me tell you what we see. Listen for once. We see a world trampled under your huge ecological footprints. We feel your development dragging us into the global market, then watch you buying our wood, oil and running shoes made for $1 a day on that global market. We feel you manoeuvering us towards your democracy and imposing sanctions should we not choose the right government, you who know right from wrong.
We see you coming to sell us cars and hear you tell us not to cut our forests or drive our cars - you need the clean air. We see our hungry children, then we see you using billions of dollars of your latest high-tech weapons and we see fat men in shiny suits selling us expensive but obsolete older models of the same. We fear your sanctions should we ever use them.
We hear your talk of human rights and the rule of law and see your waggling fingers as you lecture us on good governance. You never listen to what we think of your wars and your torture and your governance over us. Oh yes, we feel trapped in a cycle of poverty and we see you turning the wheels.
So when you see naked brown and black children and wish we would stop producing them, remember that we see fat white men overconsuming resources, resources that belong as much to naked black children as they do to you.
Jibhi, Himachal Pradesh, India
Technorati tags: Guardian, Guardian Weekly, poverty, birthrate, Africa, India, Jeph Mathias.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Caring at a distance
Gosh, I can't believe it's been a week since my last blog post. Forgive me!
It's been a very distracted week for me, I'm afraid. My mum is quite unwell, and it's been weighing heavily on my mind. It's tough when people you care about are on the other side of the world. However far apart we are (in all meanings of that phrase), she's still my mum, and I love her.
It looks like she's had a bad reaction to some of the meds she's on, so her doctors have taken her off them and we'll just have to see how it goes. My sister's doing a great job taking care of practical stuff, and we're in constant contact, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to do anything I can to help her and mum.
So in honour of - whatever you like - here's a cute and funny little animation to fill up this post. It has nothing to do with anything else, I just like it and I wanted to put it on my blog somewhere - so today's the day!
I have some great big thoughts in my head about a whole lot of stuff that's happened over the past week - both political and otherwise - so I hope I'll get to it before the week is through. Watch out for my upcoming post on boiling the frog. Should be a good one - the words have been forming themselves into sentences in my head for a few days now!
Technorati tags: family, illness, distance, oh, and, penguins :)
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Keith Olbermann on "A textbook definition of cowardice"
Oh boy! My man Keith just keeps on getting better and better! Gawd it is so great to see someone in the American media finally having the balls to stand up there and say exactly what he thinks about the Bush administration regime. At last!
*sigh* I love a man who stands up for what he believes in...
In this week's Countdown Special Comment, Keith laid into Fox News for ambushing Bill Clinton during an interview last Sunday - and he pulled no punches when it came to expressing his opinion on Dubya's cowardice, either.
You are probably aware that on Sunday former President Bill Clinton was interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. He was expecting to answer questions about the Clinton Global Initiative, but first Wallace (claiming that his viewers had "emailed him the question") asked Clinton why he didn't do more to capture or kill Osama bin Laden while he was in office. Following on from the distortions of the truth by The Path to 9/11, eh Chris? Must be one of the Republicans' memes of the month, I guess.
Thing is, I don't think it's such a great idea to try and put one over on Bill Clinton. Bill got mad, and he got even by telling the truth, and exposing the Republican talking points for what they are - lies and distortions. Way to go, President Clinton!
It was too long to put on YouTube, so here's the first half of the interview at Crooks and Liars. I love this screenshot. Bill Clinton making his feelings clear and emphasising his point - literally! Heh.
Here's one of my favourite bits...WJC: I authorized the CIA to get groups together to try to kill him. The CIA was run by George Tenet, who President Bush gave the Medal of Freedom to and said he did a good job. The country never had a comprehensive anti-terror operation until I came to office.
If you can criticize me for one thing, you can criticize me for this: after the Cole, I had battle plans drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban, and launch a full scale attack/search for Bin Laden. But we needed basing rights in Uzbekistan, which we got (only) after 9/11.
The CIA and the FBI refused to certify that Bin Laden was responsible while I was there. They refused to certify. So that meant I would have had to send a few hundred Special Forces in helicopters and refuel at night. Even the 9/11 Commission didn't do (think we should have done) that. Now the 9/11 Commission was a political document, too? All I'm asking is if anybody wants to say I didn't do enough, you read Richard Clarke's book.
CW: Do you think you did enough, sir?
WJC: No, because I didn't get him.
CW: Right...
WJC: But at least I tried. That's the difference in me and some, including all the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try and they didn't. I tried. So I tried and failed. When I failed, I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country: Dick Clarke. So you did Fox's bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me...
You can read the full transcript of the interview at Crooks and Liars - Fox Clinton Interview - Part 1 - Osama bin Laden.
So today Keith's Special Comment was all about the interview, the MSM's spinning of Clinton's response (they called it "crazed", amongst other things), the fact that we should all be mad as hell for what the Bush regime has done over the past five years - and that Bush's actions (or, rather, inactions in this case) are a "textbook definition of cowardice".
Check it out:
Here's one of my favourite bits:Thus was it left for the previous president to say what so many of us have felt; what so many of us have given you a pass for in the months and even the years after the attack:
You did not try.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your predecessor.
You ignored the evidence gathered by your own people.
Then, you blamed your predecessor.
That would be a textbook definition, Mr. Bush, of cowardice.
To enforce the lies of the present, it is necessary to erase the truths of the past.
That was one of the great mechanical realities Eric Blair—writing as George Orwell—gave us in the book 1984.
The great philosophical reality he gave us, Mr. Bush, may sound as familiar to you, as it has lately begun to sound familiar to me.
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power...
"Power is not a means; it is an end.
"One does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
"The object of persecution, is persecution. The object of torture, is torture. The object of power... is power."
You can read the full transcript on Keith's Countdown page - A textbook definition of cowardice.
Oh yeah, it's official - Keith Olbermann - I know I love you!
Interesting links:
Technorati tags: Keith Olbermann, Countdown, George Bush, 9/11, Bill Clinton, President Clinton, Osama bin Laden, Fox News, Chris Wallace, American politics.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Why I blog - and a great big thank-you!
I love writing. It's the main reason why I started this blog in the first place. Well, that and the fact that all my friends were doing it. Heh.
I write on quite a range of subjects - from geekery to gardening, literature to cats, politics to rugby, environmentalism to human behaviour, and from New Zealand to Clay Aiken. Since I started this blog in May my visitor numbers have gradually increased, and my Technorati ranking has got better and better. On an average day I get about fifty visitors, but on a good day - like today - I can get over a thousand. Wow! I started at 2 million and something on Technorati and now my ranking is up to 57,180. I've still got a very long way to go, but I'm feeling pretty good about where I'm at after only four months.
The most hit-worthy subjects I write about are Clay and American politics - with Clay coming out on top by a very big margin.
I've had a pretty good month this month. My live-blogging piece on the Path to 9/11 garnered over 800 visits and over 1000 page views, and I got linked to from all over the progressive blogosphere. I did a diary about it over at DailyKos - only my second diary in those hallowed cyber-halls - and to my absolute amazement (and complete bethrillment [I just made that word up - good, isn't it?]) I was on the Recommended list at Kos for quite a few hours.
And then there's the piece I wrote on Saturday night about Clay and the never-ending media fascination in his sexual orientation. It's been my most talked-about and visited piece so far. Yesterday I had over 1000 visitors and more than 1300 page views, and today another 750+ visitors and 1000+ page views. A-mazing!
I've been linked to from right across the ClayNation over the past couple of days - it's been fascinating visiting all the URLs that have come up in my SiteMeter stats this weekend. The picture at the top of this page is a screenshot of a Japanese Clay fan site - The New Clay Aiken Blog. Check it out (you can see a larger version of the picture by clicking on it)! It's a mention of my latest post translated into Japanese! How cool is that?
And look - here's a Korean blog post written by heyn6364, where the writer has translated the piece from the Japanese blog about my blog into Korean and included it in her blog! Totally, completely and utterly cool! I just had to include a screenshot of the entire page because it's so pretty. Click on the pic to see the large version. I got AltaVista Babel Fish to translate a bit of it. "Clay" translated as "lay" and "blog" as "blow". Heh. Heh heh heh!
I don't know exactly why I'm so inordinately excited about my blog being translated into other languages - maybe in this case it's the novelty and beauty of the Japanese and Korean characters, or perhaps it's the whole thing about someone caring enough about what I've written to take the time to translate it so that others may read it too. Whatever the reason, it thrills me to pieces - so, as I'm still getting visitors from both those sites, WELCOME, 歓迎 and 환영 - and THANK YOU, ありがとう, and 너를 감사하십시요!
I think what these two blog posts (the 9/11 one and the Clay one) have in common is passion - and somewhat controversial subject-matter. I don't always aim to be controversial, and I don't write passionately every single day (that would be exhausting!), but when I do, and when I get it right, it certainly seems to have an effect.
I guess what I'm aiming for is "good" writing, although I'm not entirely sure if I can always define precisely what that means. I see blogging as the "little sister" of journalism, in that we've both got a story to tell, or an opinion to share - and although many "real" journalists still look down their noses at bloggers, I think there's a place for us all in the big wide world of the media.
For me, telling a story means getting my facts right, and having corroborating evidence from a number of sources. The internet is absolutely brilliant for finding information, but I think it's important to ensure that I don't just go to a single source. I need to be sure that what I'm saying is correct - and that I have links and references to back me up.
When I'm writing an opinion piece, I do bring in facts to support what I'm saying, but my main aim in that case is to express how I feel or what I think about a subject, and to convince my reader that my point is view is at least valid, if not exactly the one they share.
In both cases I think the best way to get my points across is by developing a clear writing style, by expressing the story with a logical and easy to follow narrative, and by really personalising what I'm saying.
I think that last point is really important. Having been trained as a scientist about a million moons ago, and having been both a technical writer, a report writer and teacher at various stages of my career, I find myself often slipping into a rather impersonal style of writing. Then I read it back and realise I need to make it more personal - I need to link it to me. Why do I find this subject important? Why do I feel passionately about this thing/event/person/whatever? I think that's what makes a blog interesting - the response of the writer to whatever they're writing about.
I'm also a complete perfectionist - it takes me a few hours to write a piece and get it just how I want it, and I love good grammar, spelling and punctuation. In fact I'd go further than that. I cannot bear reading stuff that's misspelled - and as for incorrect punctuation? Aaaargggggghhhh! Apostrophes are easy, folks! You just have to know the rules and apply them properly and.... oh yeah, I know. Old-fashioned. I admit it! I even txt in complete words and sentences most of the time! Heh.
Anyway. This rather rambling piece - because I really have to go to bed and I really want to get it finished first (knowing me, I'll probably come back and tidy it up tomorrow!) is my way of explaining the thinking behind what I do in WebWeaver's World and of saying a great big THANK YOU to everyone who visits my blog, and and even bigger THANK YOU to everyone who takes the time to make a comment. I really appreciate it.
Starting this blog was primarily a way of expressing myself through the written word, and I'm pleased and thrilled to find that other people sometimes enjoy my writing too. Thank you!
Technorati tags: blogging, Clay Aiken, politics, Technorati ranking, writing.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Is Clay gay or straight? It's none of your business!
The release of Clay Aiken's sophomore album, A Thousand Different Ways this week has been accompanied by a resurgence of the endless speculation about his sexual orientation.
It appears that the media, the tabloids and those who enjoy celebrity gossip cannot stop asking the question: "So, Clay, are you gay?". Even though he has answered the question a number of times in the past, it appears that some people will not take "no" for an answer, and continue to insist that he "must" be gay, and that he's either confused or lying about his sexual preference.
And Clay, in his typical stubborn, ballsy way, has decided that he's not going to answer the question yet again - partly because he believes it's rude, intrusive, and none of your business, and partly because he's realised that people will believe what they want to believe - whatever he says.
From Rolling Stone magazine - 07/10/03:"Some people, for example, seem to think that because he is slender, has long, fluttering eyelashes, and currently doesn't have a girlfriend, he must be gay. ...This kind of stuff seems to amuse Aiken more than it upsets him.
One thing I've found of people in the public eye," Aiken says, "either you're a womanizer or you've got to be gay. Since I'm neither one of those, people are completely concerned about me. They're like, 'What are you then?'
From Prime Time Live with Diane Sawyer: 10/09/03:Clay: "I have some very effeminate qualities... I'm not completely blind to it. I have gotten used to people asking the question. They think, ok, he doesn't drink; he doesn't go out and have sex with every woman that he sees. I think it's high time there's somebody who represents people who aren't gay, but doesn't sleep around with everybody, you know. If I'm supposed to carry the banner for all the nerds in the world I'm fine with that, too."
To those people who either insist on asking him again and again (presumably because, thus far, he hasn't given them the answer they want to hear), and to those who are so sure he's gay because he pings their gaydar I would ask: "How the f*ck is this any of your business?"
How would you feel if complete strangers insisted on speculating publicly about your love life, asked you intrusive questions about whether you preferred men or women, and then completely ignored your answer and carried on believing what they believed in the first place, regardless of the answer you'd given?
Listen: I'm a fully paid-up member of the ClayNation (in case you hadn't noticed!) and I don't give two hoots about what Clay does or doesn't do behind closed doors. It's absolutely NONE of my business - just as what I get up to in my bedroom is none of his. Or yours.
Firstly - what gives someone the right to pry into another person's private life? OK, if you're planning to enter into a relationship with them - or even just hoping for a quick f*ck, I can see why it might be a fair question to ask - although in both cases I would think by that point you might have a good idea of whether they preferred men or women... But otherwise? How is it any of your business?
Oh. Wait. It's because he's famous, isn't it? Famous people are fair game, right? It comes with the territory, right? They deserve it, right?
Really? Why? No, really, why??
Are you jealous of their success and fame? Do you think you have a better voice than they do/can act better than they can/have more talent than they do? Is that it?
Or is it because you envy the money and recognition that comes with fame, and wish you had a piece of it - and because you don't you find it fun to tear them down instead?
Or is it because you secretly find that you're attracted to them, and you can't acknowledge that, even to yourself, and so you attack them instead?
Or is it simply that you enjoy gossip, and you just can't stop yourself from speculating - regardless of the fact that this is a real person, with real feelings, real hopes and dreams, and real insecurities and hang-ups - just like you - and that they can feel real pain, sorrow and frustration as a result of your actions - just like you would if the tables were turned?
Oh - and in case you're wondering how Clay's religious beliefs fit into all of this - because you know he's a committed Christian - a Southern Baptist to be exact - and you have some half-arsed notion that Clay's gay but can't admit it because you think his church and/or family are homophobic and wouldn't approve, here's what he said on Good Morning America this week:Despite the trauma that the reports have caused, Aiken said his Baptist faith had gotten stronger.
"Are there tolerant Baptists? Absolutely. Are there intolerant Baptists? Oh yes, I'm sure there are," he said.
But the Jesus that he believes in loves all faiths, races and sexual orientations: "Muslim, Jewish, Christian, gay, straight, black, white, everybody."
What does it say about you as a person if you get your jollies from speculating about someone else's sex life? Especially if that speculation includes refusing to believe that what they say is true? What's missing in your life to make you feel the need to pry into the private life of someone else?
The fact that some betting organisations were offering odds on whether or not Clay was going to come out this week says a lot about the state that people are in right now. Have you got nothing better to think about? Nothing more important to focus on? Puh-lease!
Secondly - why would a person's sexual orientation affect the way I feel about them? I have straight friends and I have gay friends - and their private lives have nothing to do with our friendship. I love them all, regardless of whom they choose to make love with. It's the same with the artists, musicians, actors and performers whom I admire - why would the gender of the people they love have any effect on the fact that I love the way they paint/sing/dance/act? I just don't understand why some people might think that it would make a difference to the way I respond to their art.
One of my friends, when she found out that I'm a fan of Clay's, shrieked "Why??? He's so GAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!" My response was threefold: "1. How do you know? He's already said he's not - do you think you know him better than he does? 2. What business is it of yours anyway? 3. And finally - why on earth do you think that would that make a difference to the way I feel about him?"
If Clay came out next week and told the world that he's gay, I would shrug my shoulders and say "Oh well, good for him, I'm glad he feels that the time is right for him to come out, and I hope he's found a good man who will love and cherish him forever"... and then I'd go back to enjoying his music and admiring his character and integrity.
And if he announced next week that he's fallen in love with a beautiful woman and they're planning to get married and have dozens of babies, I would say "Oh well, good for him, I'm glad he's found the girl of his dreams who will love and cherish him forever - so when's that CD of lullabies going to be released?"... and then I'd go back to enjoying his music and admiring his character and integrity.
It seems as though Clay has finally arrived at the end of his patience with regards to the questions and the speculation. He's drawn his line in the sand, and he's now refusing to dignify the question with any kind of answer at all. I've gotta say: the man has balls.
In an interview on Good Morning America the other day, he told Diane Sawyer:"I've gotten to a point now where I a) am tired of trying, and b) I feel it's kind of invasive, you know? What I do in my private life is nobody's business anymore..." "It's one thing to try to be open and talk to people and try to share as much as I can and, and of course I want to," he said. "But at some point it becomes just really rude, you know?"
Aiken said he didn't understand the curiosity, Sawyer's included, about his sexual orientation... "I'm not spending my time with this anymore, this is a waste of my time."
During the interview he also stated quite clearly that the recent tabloid stories about him are not true - although he's not going to dignify those by discussing them either. And of course - as he predicted - the media and the gossip-mongers are continuing to read their own agenda into his refusal any longer to answer the question. "Oh well" they say, "he didn't say he wasn't this time, did he? So that must mean he's gay, but he won't come out and say it!" Which is exactly what he's tired of fighting.
As he told MTV this week:"Most celebrities, after a while, get used to the fact that no matter what you say, people are gonna believe one thing or believe another one, so it kinda becomes a waste of your time to even attempt to deal with it anymore," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
And as he said to People magazine:"I learned this year that you can't make people like you or care about you or love you."
It's OK, Clay, you didn't need to "make" me like you or care about you or love you - you did it just by being yourself.
My dear friend Pink Armchair at the CH and The ConCLAYve wrote this great skit which, for me, really says it all - with humour. I think it demonstrates one of the reasons why Clay's decided that answering "that" question, over and over again, is simply a waste of his time. Enjoy.2006:
Kimmel: So, Clay... whatcha been up to?
Clay: Well, Jimmy, Ah'm here to promote mah new CD, A Thousand Different Ways, and announce that, AGAIN, Ah'm not gay.
2007:
Kimmel: So, Clay... you don't have any new album to promote, so what's going on?
Clay: Jest here ta announce that Ah'm STILL not gay.
2008:
Kimmel: So, Clay... how're things?
Clay: Well, as ya know, Ah got married this year, to a woman. So Ah guess it's oh-fishul: Ah'm NOT gay.
2010:
Kimmel: So, Clay... I hear you have a new baby.
Clay: Yep, shore do. So Ah guess it's obvious: AH'M.NOT.GAY.
2020:
Kimmel: So, Clay... How many kids do you have now?
Clay: Five. Oh, and Ah s'pose Ah should make mah annual announcement: Ah'm STILL.NOT.GAY.
2050:
Kimmel: So, Clay... I hear you had a hip and two knee replacements.
Clay: Huh? Better crank up mah hearin' aid. What was that? Oh, that's right. And Ah'm STILL.NOT.GAY.
2060:
Kimmel: So, Clay... is there anything you have to tell me?
Clay: Yeah... but Ah'll be danged if Ah kin remember what it is.
Interesting links:
On Clay and his private life:
On Clay and A Thousand Different Ways:
Other blogs about Clay, his private life and his new CD:
Oh - and the photos on this page? As always, if you click on a pic, you'll find a larger version hiding just beneath the surface. Just sayin'.
UPDATE 18/02/07: I see I'm getting a whole lot of new visitors to this post who've searched Google to find out What Clay confessed to Kimmel. The answer is that he confessed to having his teeth done this week.
Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, gay, straight, gossip, rumour, tabloids, private life, celebrity, sexual orientation, sexuality, sexual preference, homophobia.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
A Thousand Different Ways to be patient
*sigh*
I adore living in New Zealand, I reckon it's the best country in the world, but just occasionally there's a downside to living here.
Clay's new CD, A Thousand Different Ways, was released at midnight in the US (which was around 6pm here), and everyone I know there was either at a Clay Aiken CD release party (there were parties at record stores right across the country), or sitting with their fingers poised on the "buy album" button at iTunes, waiting for the clock to strike twelve. Unfortunately New Zealand doesn't have an iTunes store yet, so although I can see Clay's ATDW page, I can't actually buy the CD.
Mustbepatient.
Which is a total bummer, because the iTunes version of the CD includes a bonus track, not available anywhere else. It's called Lover All Alone, and by all accounts it's to die for. Rumour has it that the song was co-written by Clay, and everyone who's heard it seems to be completely amazed that it isn't on the regular version of the CD - it's so heartbreakingly good. Waaaaaaa! I wanna hear it! If you're lucky enough to have an iTunes store in your country, go to Clay's ATDW iTunes page to get a copy and see/hear it for yourself.
Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient.
UPDATE 12.51am: You rule, luckiest1! I love the internets. Dearest luckiest1 from the CH just bought me a copy of the CD from iTunes and emailed me an mp3 of Lover All Alone. Oh my Gawd! It's so beautiful, and gentle, and just... yearning... what a sad, sad, gorgeous song. Every single woman who hears it will be a weeping puddle on the floor by the time it's halfway through. Go get it!
Then there's another bonus track (a different one) on the KMart version of the CD. If you buy A Thousand Different Ways from one of their stores, you get a PIN number which allows you access to the downloadable bonus track. However I can't get hold of it because they don't do overseas sales. Rats! I can't even find ATDW listed on their website, so maybe it's an in-store thing only.
Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient.
There's also a thing at Walmart called Soundcheck, which is an exclusive video of Clay backstage, singing four complete songs from the CD, Clay talking about the making of the CD and all kinds of other stuff (it's an excellent interview) and generally doing his thing. He looks and sounds gorgeous, but for some reason it's running really slowly for me tonight, and I'm only getting a couple of seconds at a time before it stops and loads some more.
Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient.
Bleagh. It's hard listening to him sing for only 3 seconds and then have to wait 60 seconds to hear the next tiny bit! I'm not even going to mention the fact that I have one or two political "issues" with this particular store. Let's not go there. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient.
Then there's the Sony store with the bonus special magnet thingy that comes with the CD. I can't buy that either, because the US Sony store won't accept overseas payments and they won't ship overseas either. Rats!
Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient.
Of course, you know that, being one of Clay's slightly, er, more *enthusiastic* fans, I've already figured out ways around all these little challenges.
I have friends in the US buying me all these bits and pieces as we speak; I've had two copies of the CD ordered on Amazon since the moment it became available for pre-order; and I'm even going to try sweet-talking Brian at work tomorrow, because he used to be an American, and if he still has an American credit card maybe I can persuade him to buy me an iTunes copy of the album so I don't have to wait until my Amazon package arrives. We shall see.
Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient. Mustbepatient.
Patience is a virtue, I know, but sometimes, even I just.want.it.now! And NOW is one of those times....
PS In the time I've been writing this, ATDW has gone from #150-something, to #55 and now to #24 on iTunes top album downloads. The CD's been available for just over 6 hours. Wonder how long it'll take to get to #1? :)
Useful Links
Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, Lover All Alone, album, music, new CD, iTunes, Walmart, Kmart, Sony, Amazon.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Problem-solving in the shower
I've been working like a crazy person this week, which is why I haven't had a chance to update my blog for a few days. I reckon my job as a web developer is the best job in the world, and it suits me perfectly. It's a great mixture of creativity and cold hard logic, which I don't think you find in many careers.
Each website I build is a one-off, and each comes with its own challenges in terms of the build. A couple of years ago I started building sites in pure CSS instead of using tables for layout, and that's meant a whole new set of techniques (and bug fixes) to figure out.
The site I've been working on for the past couple of months is pretty darned complicated, and it's really stretched my brain at times. Lots of layout trickiness, which, as usual, has thrown up a whole bunch of bugs that have to be fixed and sometimes even hacked. Yeah Internet Explorer, I'm looking at you...
Honestly, I reckon that IE (in the three or four versions that we still build for) can add 50% longer to build times, because of the many ways in which it doesn't comply with CSS standards. There are so many ways in which it has to be forced to do the right thing, while making sure your fixes aren't breaking the site in any other browsers.
Lucky I love problem-solving eh? It's such a big part of my job that I don't think I'd get very far if I didn't like it. I use a mixture of logic, lateral thinking, my knowledge of the techniques and tricks, creative thinking, unending perseverence (because I never, ever give up) and a regular dose of inspiration.
I realised a long time ago that inspiration is most likely to strike when I'm not even thinking about it. Like when I'm sleeping, for example - or at least when I'm falling asleep or just waking up. That's the moment when I'll get the flash of an idea that will lead to a solution.
And I'm not alone in that, either. Recent research has shown that when subjects were asked to make a complex decision while being distracted by another task, they did much better than those subjects given time to think about the decision without distraction. Interesting! You can read more about it here: Trust your instincts.Dijksterhuis [the researcher] points out that consciousness is good at following precise rules - arithmetic, solving anagrams, etc - but has only limited capacity for handling more complex problems. He proposes the "deliberation without attention" hypothesis, whereby complex problems are best solved by the parallel-computing capabilities of the unconscious mind.
...which I suppose is exactly what I'm doing when I have a cigarette break and watch the world go by, when I take a moment to make a fresh cup of coffee and peruse the paper while I'm at it, or when I simply stare into space and let my mind wander for a minute or two.
Here's an example - I was sitting on the bus this evening, gazing out of the window, thinking about nothing in particular, and it suddenly occurred to me that the layout problem I've got with Opera might just be solved if I try a width: 100% on an outer div, rather than the one I can't use 'cos it breaks in Firefox... We'll see tomorrow...
And as for problem-solving in the shower - well, that's just about the perfect place to sort out the toughest of layout problems - as long as you're not actually thinking about them, that is!
Think about it - you're still half asleep, you're concentrating on getting your bits clean rather than that fiendish float you've got waiting for you at work, it's a new day, the sun's shining through the window, and even though in some ways you'd (I'd) much rather just go back to bed, there's a new challenge waiting... (which, remember, you're not thinking about).
Get all those factors together, add the cats waiting for their breakfast and the stress of having got up late and ohbuggernowI'mgoingtobelateforworkagain and that's the moment when inspiration is bound to strike. It always does.
And if it doesn't strike today, there's always tomorrow...
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