Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Saturday, March 25, 2006
"I'm so angry with my country"
A conversation that comes up often here is about the proliferation of the USA death machine around the world. Here is another charge of torture at Diego Garcia. The USA named that prison, CAMP JUSTICE....should have named it WAR CRIMES CENTRAL.
My position is that ALL bases on foreign soil should be shut down immediately. I just received an e-mail on the topic. Here is part of it.“...CALL TO AN INTERNATIONAL GATHERING IN ECUADOR in MARCH 2007 FOR THE ABOLITION OF ALL FOREIGN MILITARY BASES
The construction of foreign military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq; the cases of torture at the bases in Guantanamo and Diego Garcia; the construction of new bases in Okinawa; the “realignment” of military
alliances in Asia; and the dramatic increase of joint military exercises as part of the so-called “global war against terror” have highlighted how foreign military bases, other forms of military presence, and militarization of whole societies are used to secure certain states’ and corporations’ interests at the cost of democracy, justice, and sovereignty around the world.
Another world will not be possible without abolishing these bases and demilitarizing global and national societies.
Over the past two years, we have been building up an international network to achieve this aim. Many of us have come together for the first time at the World Social Forum and other meetings or through the internet so as to form a global community. Our approaches vary, our concerns are multi-faceted. But our objective is the same: the closure of foreign military bases around the world.
The times demand that we escalate our actions and improve our coordination. The next step in consolidating our community is to organize an inaugural conference for our network. After much communication and deliberation we decided to hold this conference in Ecuador in March 2007....”Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/25 at 11:30 AM‘Harvest of Empire’ is a real gem and should be required reading for insouciant North Americans, esp. those living in places with large Latino populations. Here’s an interesting take on a similar phenomenon that happened across the pond:
http://tinyurl.com/hl8g6Posted by sk on from 03/25 at 12:04 PMMy story is when I lived in the south of Spain I had a house to myself for a year save two periods of three weeks in which a guy recovering from a stay in hospital for schizophrenia was there. The first time he was there he was heavily medicated, which I didn´t like to see. The second time was in early summer and he decided not to bother with medication and I quietly cheered him for doing so. We spent most of the time on the porch playing dice and smoking reefer this disingenuous gypsy would deliver on a motorbike once or twice a week. He said he loved chess and we played once, I took a game that had been mapped out move-by-move in Samuel Beckett´s novel Murphy. Murphy has a main character who wants to be nothing and towards the end gets a job in a mental hospital. There he meets a patient who fascinates him, the man has a stunning facility for politely melting away from anyone who tries to approach him. Murphy manages to get him playing chess (I was the patient and he was Murphy). During the game, Murphy keeps trying to engage the patient who makes little nonsensical repetitive moves with his knight back and forth for much of the play. No pieces are taken, there is no contact between the players. Murphy even sends his queen out to be killed but the patient is having none of it. At this point my housemate was shouting Bollocks bollocks bollocks! I went down and lay on the couch and said Well if you´re going to be like that… He said let´s just finish the game and find out how it resolves, so I got back up. I told him some of the story and he said Mate I´ve played chess in a mental hospital and it ain´t nothing like that. We played out the last couple moves until Murphy surrenders. My housemate shouted Bollocks!
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 03/25 at 01:21 PMHello all...a gym story from me would require a parental advisory, and since all here are of delicate sensibility, I content myself with:
Craig’s List.
Last night I was rummaging in the sex ads for a story idea. (It says here.) I ran across a good one. A man of 32 summers posted a “Casual Encounters” ad offering on a 30-day contract anything at all, any sexual service imaginable, any form of physical congress one might desire, for $400. Man, woman, sadist, masochist, enthusiast of even more arcane activities, anything.
He stressed he was desperate. He would need the money up-front, and would begin his servitude immediately upon receipt of cash. The next 30 days, all of April, he would be on call 24/7 for the desired activities. He stressed again he was desperate.
My email to him, explicitly stating I was a curious writer and not a sugar daddy, was still returned within 15 minutes and I was invited to call the man. Of course, I did, and we had a two-hour chat.
He was in deep dreck because he’d smoked the product he was supposed to sell, and was being threatened with grievous bodily harm for the cash. He was, he stressed, completely desperate. I said I understood, and wasn’t able to hand over any money because I had none. He sighed, and told me some more of the story. He’d hit on the idea of offering himself as a sex slave because it was easy, even if his master hurt him. Pain wasn’t as scary as the idea of death, which is what he feared from his defrauded supplier.
I listened to him bemoan his situation, tutted sympathetically, and felt more and more and more despairing. A problem that just flat shouldn’t be a problem, if the “War on Drugs” was acknowledged to be what it is...an effort (hugely successful) to create a permanent underclass and a cash economy “immune” to government scrutiny. (Suits the black-ops folks down to the ground or it would be shut down.)
Capitalism/corporatism. I think we’ll keep it; I hope we’ll ditch it.
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 03/25 at 01:23 PMIt’s Saturday night, I’m at home and reading Dante.
Got this picture from another blogger:
the only problem with this picture is the gun
Posted by Hope on from Denmark 03/25 at 03:33 PMAlways great to hear from Hope from Denmark! My dad’s family raised animals like that up near Struer (spelling) on ol’ Langergaard.
I’m at work on a Saturday, maybe type a story when I get home, but in the meantime, I expect to see everyone at the car-free Central Park rally tomorrow!
...by animal, I meant the goat, not that other creature.
Posted by James on from work 03/25 at 04:22 PMHello All,
That’s a nice story Mickey - I wish I could claim to have experienced any such a similar surprise. I keep hoping beyond hope for some such encounter or just a positive response to political chit chat, but the best I can recall in recent memory was one young girl at the checkout being interested in the vote (our election at the time) and relatively (not much, but some) informed on the various candidates. Alas, she was also too young to vote!
What’s going on in the Gulf of St. Lawrence today, you ask?
http://tinyurl.com/nt7hoThe ice is unsafe to walk on, so their “using” rifles - and likely losing most of their prey.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 03/25 at 07:45 PMHope you get a great turn out for the rally tomorrow James.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 03/25 at 07:47 PMHello Expendables. I’m heading out at the moment but I wanted to say thanks for the stories, links, images, etc. I’ll check back soon.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/25 at 07:59 PMMe again. I’d love to comment on all of the above, but alas...I’ll have to keep it brief.
Owen, I’m fascinated by chess although I suck at it. Here’s something I wrote last year: http://tinyurl.com/mdgc5
Mudge: A female character in my NaNo novel did something similar through the personal ads. Not for sex, mind you, but to find someone who’d clean her apartment and find the servitude a turn-on.
On that sordid note, I’ll sign off.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/25 at 09:32 PM
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