HAS THE WORLD GONE COMPLETELY MAD?

Courts in NJ & CT have said malls *are* "public places" for First Ammendment purposes. Not in NY, diff states have diff opinions on that. But regardless....this is so fucked.

Supreme court said a man wearing a "FUCK THE DRAFT" in a court house was protected by the First Amendment
(Johnson v California,?, 1969)

I have been reading 1984 again, online.

Oh, enjoy this.

I'll be in Australia from 3/10/03 to 3/29/03 and Auckland NZ for four days thereafter before coming back here and looking for a new job.

*****
Regarding the gvt's BIG CATCH. You and I don't know if Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is the big fish/whale catch we are told he is. I thought Ramzi bin al-Shibh was the big fish, or Zubaida. There's no way to know where these people actually fit in the network. Every time the government catches somebody they're "Huge." Its sort of expecting a used car salesman to be honest about the quality of his merchandise. What used carsalesman has ever sold a car with "Oh what a lemon, areal non starter, a heap of junk" Like the government– "A minor functionary, an unnoticeable peon, a temp of a terrorist."

Still, any catches are a good thing, provided they are actual members of Al Qaida, not some deli owner with an al in his name. If the Feds want to get more credit than its worth, that's fine too, I don't blame them for not preventing 9/11 but if we didn't have a war on drugs the Feds would have a GREAT deal of time and resources to tackle real problems. KSM MAY be the big guy we've all been waiting for, which would be great, but it is hard to tell.

******

With the French, I used to be pleased with their anti war stance but I have become disappointed because although I don't think they're pro-hussein, their primary reason for not supporting the war is to counter us. This is petty, puerile, and..well.. French. To take an important stand soley to be diff to the USA is rotten. So I can ease back into that comfy sofa that is anti-Frenchness without remorse.

If you think I'm obsessed with this war, you're right. And I, and my fellow NY-ers have a right to be b/c we have a dog in this fight; us. Assuming the US hammers Iraq, would Saddam (not Soddom) be unjustified in attacking OUR cities, even though terrorism of that type is not his style--whatever that poor misguided chump Lower Colon Pow-el and Red Rum Rumsfield will have you believe. YES Sadam has to go, but not at the expense of half of Iraq, and not at the expense of ME. I won't be in Crawford TX, but guess who WILL be I'll bet.

*******

ON North Korea

Kim Jong Il is REALLY out of touch but very sane, and reasonably bright. What he WANTS is Money, his country is nearly broke and if it goes down the tubes so does he. He played this trick a few years ago and GOT money and went away happy. Bush doesn't know how to play the game. And..believe it or not, he needed a third country in the "axis" so picked Korea. For symmetry,historically an axis has 3, and so they picked a non-Islamic evil state so as not to look anti-Islam. We're obsessed with diversity here. And gives the axis a world wide reach.

Like this current plane thing - Flying around the edge of North Korea, and blatantly baiting them is a very bad idea. See what mess the Chinese debacle was a few years ago. The worst thing to do to a deranged paranoid person who is armed is taunt and irritate them. Sure the planes were in international waters, but how would WE behave with Chinese or North Korean spy planes thirteen miles off California?

The "Glorious Leader" is also afraid, and he's not alone, that Bush is horribly aggressive and will actually attack Korea. Now THAT would make the Iraq stupidity look SMART in comparison. It would be amazingly dangerous for many complicated reasons. I don't think the Bush administration really understands how dangerous North Korea is or the implications of taking them on for us, South Korea, Japan, and thus the world economy.

Despite the media, KJI is actually bright and far from crazy. He IS eccentric, but so am I. And the media is so stupid. I'm sick of "sending a message" and getting "wake up calls." And its Qatar, pronounced between "K" and "Q" or so my semester of Arabic has me believing. Not fucking Gutter.

********

I won't have Israeli sins compared to Iraqi ones. Israel is at once heavy handed in its dealings with the Palestinians and criminal in the building of new settlements, but there is no comparison to the suffering of the Iraqi people under that bastard and Israel's bad deeds.

And I can't believe this:

Court Finds 'Three-Strikes' Laws Constitutional

(excerpts)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday
upheld long sentences meted out under the nation's
toughest three-time offender law, ruling that a prison
term of 25 years to life is not too harsh for a
small-time thief who shoplifted golf clubs.

Ewing had four prior convictions for robbery and
burglary. Although prosecutors could have charged him
with a misdemeanor in the golf club case, they chose
to charge him with a felony under the state's
three-strikes law. The sentence means Ewing, an AIDS
patient, would serve at least 25 years in prison
without possibility of parole.

Twenty-six states and the federal government have some
version of a three-strikes law, which typically allow
a life prison term or something close to it for a
person convicted of a third felony.

The same lineup of justices also acted in another
case, a widely noted appeal in which a small-time
burglar was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison
for stealing videos from KMart.

The California law requires a sentence of 25 years to
life in prison for any felony conviction if the
criminal was previously convicted of two serious or
violent felonies ** It also permits judges to treat as
felonies a third offense that would otherwise be a
misdemeanor.**

All I have to say more is AAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHH

D

OK, since you asked, I'll rant. About cliches. I'm sick of being "sent a message" The government/FBI / Dpt of Homeland Insanity is "sending a message" to terrorists/drug users/librarians and I'm sick of it.

And no more "chilling"

I don't CARE about SUVs. Yes of course they're supporting terrorism because they support Saudi Arabia AND owners of SUVs might as well have a neon sign on their cars saying "Your safety is not as important as mine." As opposed to the new Hummer owners whose sign is "Nobody's safety even exists but my own." End of story. Jesus WOULDN'T drive.

And I don't want any more "wake up calls" - about Islam, my cholesterol, or the internet viewing habits of my non-existent children - for whom we must censor the internet to "protect".

Which is not as bad as how we're "protecting" the liberty of the Iraqi population by bombing the bejesus out of it.

I"m not watching Tom Brokaw bcause he swllws all hs vowels when he's talking about trrorsm or hrroin or anything. And, Tom, the dictator of Iraq's first name is sAddam, not sOddom, and it wasn't him who had planes fly into our buildings but Bin Laden who has been morphed into Saddam by the White House. WHICH has moved on from Saddam Hussein's "addiction to weapons of mass destruction" (an actual Presidential quote) to "regime change" now the Iraqis are smashing their WMD.

Why doesn't President Bush give news conferences EVER? I guess when there's nobody is grinding the organ the monkey won't come out.

Doc turns off his TV.

D

This is so terrible. When they passed some anti-foreigner laws in 1996 I decided to become a citizen so I wouldn't be arbitrarily deported.

The 96 law, amongst other things, made people deportable for crimes they committed EVER, in some cases 30 year old shoplifting convictions of people who had spent their whole life (except a few months after they were born) here. They send them back to countries they often have no connection with but happen to be born in.

ITs what's called an "ex post facto" law, a law that applies retroactively and it is not allowed. Constitutionally. If you're arrested for something, you can't be held liable for any legislative action about that law AFTER you broke it (ie making it more punishable, easier to be convicted etc)

But deportation isn't a "criminal" action/punishment, it is "regulatory" so they get away with it. That's so wrong.

And that was under CLINTON, NOW the situation is TOTALLY out of control. I tell taxi drivers to get citizenship and WHY.

D

OK. I went to the jury service with my red **SUMMONS**
in shaking hand and rather than the lady pressing a
lever and a bunch of cops and dogs and bees appearing
from nowhere, cuff me and throw me down the shoot to
the aligator tank, she said fine. "What? Ya moved?"

"yes...in October! blah blah blah please don't send me
to jail because I'm so pretty and those lifers are
opportunity homos and make knives out of toothbrushes
and even GIRLS tell me my ass is cute so I'm doomed
DOOMED I tell you! GOD PLEASE HAVE SOME MERCY!!"

"Ok, we'll process the change of address. See ya."

So I'm free.

D

Noticed something on TV today. See how the agenda has moved from "disarmament" (now they are disarming) to "regime change", a total shift into an area where war is "justified". The Bin Laden- Saddam link didn't pan out, the disarmament thing didn't pan out, so now its regime change b/c we know S. won't resign. Also note how this is supposed to be the first step in democratizing the M.E., yet the most undemocratic places are all our "friends" KSA, UAE, Q8 etc. Opposition to the war is HUGE even in the US now, which is good. Won't stop the war, but won't help it either.

Will be in Australia and NZ from 3/10/03 to 4/5/03 provided my jury service summons doesn't send me to jail.

D

I received a summons yesterday.

Story is, after I moved apartments I got 2 jury service questionaires which were not sent to me from my old address (most of my mail was) so the third time is a summons which I have to appear before a judge in the next few days and explain myself.

Worst case scenario is I"ll get 30 days jail and this happened to somebody I met even though they were in hospital the whole time.I think it is unlikely, but past experience with the State of NY has been pretty unpleasant.

Wish me luck.

D