Tuesday, May 29, 2007

The Long Green

Memorial Day orators will say that a G.I.'s life is priceless. Don't believe it. I know what value the U.S. government assigns to a soldier's life: I've been handed the check. It's roughly what the Yankees will pay Roger Clemens per inning once he starts pitching next month.

As for the notion that we have democracy in America, the fact that the Democrats in Congress just gave Bush more money than he wanted to wage war in Iraq, for a war that 72% of Americans oppose, should end that delusion. Follow the money. These people who supposedly "represent" us are bought and paid for servants of the real rulers of America, and do the bidding of the real rulers of America, not us. And the sheeple of the United States, rather than demand democracy and string these goddamned sonofabitches up from the nearest light pole (after a fair trial before a jury of their peers of course!) and install democracy in America, instead... watch American Idol.

Of course.

The Democrats may talk about representing the people. But bullshit is bullshit. The Long Green tells the truth. The Long Green shows the lies. The Long Green is our ruler, and apparently the majority of Americans have no problem with that.

-- Badtux the Dollar Penguin

Labels: iraq, prison state USA

Friday, April 27, 2007

The best place for a child is in a prison cell

I most especially applaud the Imigration and Customs Enforcement Agency for refusing to call in the local Child Protective Services to care for children for whom a guardian is not available. When I was in the school system we were directed that if an unattended child was in our custody for two hours after the end of the school day and no parent or guardian were located, we should contact Child Protective Services to take temporary custody of the child until such time as a parent or guardian were located. But the Imigration and Customs Enforcement Agency wisely regards that as just some sissy state law. They are the Department of Homeland Security. They can do whatever they want to, because, like, they're the Federal governent and, like, they got the goddamn ATOMIC BOMB, kapiche? And if you don't like it, you can sleep with the fishes with concrete goulashes! (Or occupy a clean cell at Gitmo as an enemy combatant, whatever). That child needed to be in a cell. It was for his own good.

Yes, I feel safer knowing that ICEA is protecting me from these horrible children, most of whom are even, like, brown (SHUDDER!). If ICEA does not imprison children, why, why... those hideous little brats might sneak into our bedrooms at night and KILL US ALL! Horror!

-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin

Labels: civil rights, prison state USA, soviet america, war on brown people

Monday, April 23, 2007

Weeds of Mass Destruction

Silly niCK. Marijuana makes you feel good. If it makes you feel good, it must be Satan's handiwork, like dancing and women wearing pants. Worse yet, it's a method of feeling good that doesn't require sending large sums of money to Big Pharma for Happy Happy Pills, since it is literally a weed that you can grow on your own on your back porch. Big Pharma employs hundreds of thousands of people and pays hundreds of millions of dollars of bribe money to politicians every year. So not only would legalizing marijuana be doing Satan's work, but it would also hurt dozens of hard-working legislators who would have to work for a living instead of live off the Big Pharma payroll, it would hurt dozens of millionaire Big Pharma executives who'd lose a few thousand dollars of their bonus money, but most importantly, it'd hurt all the regular working people who work for Big Pharma, who would lose a few cents off their paychecks if Big Pharma could no longer sell Happy Happy Pills by the bucketload.

Knowing all that, I have just one question for you, niCK: Why do you hate America?

-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin

Labels: humor, prison state USA, war on brown people, war on drugs, war on sick people

Beware the Poetry of Mass Destruction!

-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin

Labels: prison state USA, sick society, war on brown people

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Vladmir Putin needs to take lessons from Mayor Blumberg

When protests broke out in Moscow, President Putin arrested "dozens" of people and kept them in jail overnight.

That's all? That's all you got, Pooty-poot? What kinda freakin' banana republic President are you anyhow? I mean, c'mon, the mayor of freakin' New York City is more repressive than you are! Sheesh! Keep up this level of repression, and, why, why, Dear Leader might rebuke you again! Sheesh!

-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin

Labels: prison state USA, protests

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Prison State USA: Round up the kids!

I have absolutely no respect for adults who cannot handle a six year old child without calling the cops. None. This is a complete and utter failure in training. A child seeking attention has been rewarded for misbehavior with a *lot* of attention, and thus will misbehave more in the future. This is the dumbest, stupidest, most ignorant thing I've ever heard of -- and it is rampant today, apparently, from the links at Jurassic Pork's site.

The solution isn't the paddle. As I pointed out in my post "On Violence":

When it comes to the raising of children, or disciplining of children, much the same applies -- violence is never moral. The problem isn't that we've banned the paddle or whatever other rot the tighty righties want to trot out. The problem is that we have a very punitive and violent society that views punishment -- violence -- as the solution to all problems. But while violence can *stop* a behavior, that is all it can do -- it can never add something to a child's understanding of the world. It can never add something to society. Love, encouragement, setting clear goals and expectations and rewards (note I say rewards, not bribes, there's a difference), making life a pleasant and rewarding experience rather than something harsh and punitive... what works for raising a happy child, also works for raising a happy society. Alas, our punishment and violence addicted society seems to have forgotten this, thus why our society is so unhappy, violent, and prone to addictions such as crack cocaine, black tar heroin, and neo-conservative politics.

But that conflicts with the violent and ignorant nature of our society, so these Florida crackers think that "being tough" is the solution. Violence against children is never the solution. Never. Some very limited violence may be necessary in order to stop a behavior that presents a danger to herself or others, but as I have previously pointed out, violence never adds anything to the world. It only takes away. You have to fill a child with something to fill that hole, with joy and love and doing things together and making life a pleasant place for that child the majority of the time, or all you end up with is a child that is unhappy, misbehaving, and violent. We have decades -- yes, *DECADES* -- of behavioral research confirming this. Yet as a violent and ignorant society, we still insist upon violence as the solution to all societal problems...

-- Badtux the Behavioral Psychology Penguin

Labels: education, prison state USA, sick society, violence

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Another enemy of the people spotted!

-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin

Labels: politics, prison state USA, war on terror, wingnuts

Friday, April 06, 2007

Granny's got a gun...

-- Badtux the Misanthropic Penguin

Labels: culture, prison state USA, sick society, violence

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Mechanism and policy

Still, there are some easy objections to make. First of all, the police forces of the United States are highly decentralized. It seems unrealistic to believe that the mechanism of a police state is already there. Yet the War on Drugs proves that even this decentralization is, in the end, a fraud -- by offering the appropriate carrots to state and local governments, the federal government has managed to get pretty much every law enforcement agency onto the same page.

The next thing that comes up is, "but surely the police would refuse to enforce a stupid or oppressive law?" Ask the black residents of Birmingham Alabama how many policemen refused to enforce the oppressive laws that prohibited black people from having equal rights. Hint: None. Zero. If it is the law, police officers will enforce it, even if it's a law as stupid and ridiculous as outlawing a naturally growing herb or mushroom that anybody can obtain just by walking in the woods. The "War on Drugs", and, for that matter, New York City during the RNC convention when thousands of people were snatched off the streets by police officers and taken to internment camps for the duration, proves that what was true when Police Chief Bull Connor released his thugs against civil rights marchers in 1963 is just as true today. If the law says to do it, they will do it. Policemen who have a problem with that do not stay policemen, they leave the profession.

So the mechanisms are there. What is lacking, what seperates the United States from being a police state, is the policies. Our political processes have not turned this mechanism against ordinary citizens in a major way because our political processes, while creaking towards the precipice, are still a ways away from completely collapsing into such disorder that a "strongman" can come forward and gain the support of the majority of the people in order to restore order. Any government, in the end, depends upon at least the willing aquiescence of the majority of the population in order to continue existing. Saddam was not popular, but the majority of Iraqis clearly had no problem with him being their Dear Leader (otherwise, as we have found out, they most certainly had the weaponry to depose him at will), because he maintained a safe and orderly society, and for most people that's all they care about. Most people don't care about these lofty philosophical ideas and stuff. They just want to work, eat, raise their children. They just want to be left alone. All that is necessary is for a sustained political collapse to occur with resulting disorder, and the police will not only enforce the dictates of a strongman -- but the majority of the populance will support them in this.

The mechanism is there. All that is necessary to put it into play is policy. And that's a scary-assed thing to see, because it gives major players in the political game the incentive to speed the collapse of the political process. Dear Leader is just a symptom of a game that's being played, and I suspect we will see far, far worse in the future, especially as the economy starts to crumble under the weight of Peak Oil...

-- Badtux the Apocalyptic Penguin

Labels: peak oil, politics, prison state USA, war on drugs

Practicing for a police state

Here is how it works. There is no knock on the door. Instead, a heavily armed and armored tactical assault team surrounds your home in the dead of the night while you are asleep. They cut the power and phone off, then simultaneously with stun and flash grenades smashing through your windows, officers smash through your door with a battering ram, followed by other heavily armed and armored officers. As you stumble out of your bed, blinded and deafened, said officers bring their weapons to bear upon you. If, at that time, you try to bring your own weapon to bear on them, you are dead, period.

Every day, this happens somewhere in America. The people this happens to typically are vicious and well armed criminals, far more accustomed to killing and violence than you and I, but they go down, and they go down because the tactics of police state America have been perfected. No matter how many weapons you, or I, gather in our home, we have as much chance against these tactics as the criminals they are being tested upon, because the police have the advantages of surprise, concentration, and effective body armor. All that is awaiting is the order. All that is awaiting is the order on official paper from a judge, saying to round you up for the camps.

And the police will read that order, then they will come for you. Because that order will say you are a criminal, and every policeman knows his job is to round up criminals. Police officers have spent the past forty years building up a collective culture of disdain for civilians as cops left the streets for police cars and riot gear and became heavily armed paramilitaries complete with tanks and assault weapons rather than members of the community. A police officer handed a judge's "no-knock" arrest warrant to round you up will do it. Period. And if you dare attempt to resist, you will be dead. Period. That is how it works in police state America. The mechanisms are all there. All that is lacking now is someone saying, "Begin", and setting the wheels in motion.

Hopefully that day will never come, where the word comes down. But the mechanism is in place. And, like a professional full-time standing army (which George Washington warned about as a danger to the nation), sooner or later someone will decide to use it...

- Badtux the Apocalyptic Penguin

Labels: politics, prison state USA, war on drugs

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Prison State USA

But never fear, the State of Texas leads the way. Why, all you have to do is pay felons to guard the felons!

That's sorta like the company hired to build a fence to keep out illegals hiring illegals to build the fence. Sorta a "fox guarding the henhouse". Huh. But that's the gret stet of Texas in a nutshell. As Molly Ivins put it, "All anyone needs to enjoy [Texas government] is a strong stomach and a complete insensitivity to the needs of the people. As long as you don’t think about what that peculiar body should be doing and what it actually is doing to the quality of life in Texas, then it’s all marvelous fun."

Felons guarding felons. Marvelous fun. Uhm, okay.

-- Badtux the former-Texan Penguin

Labels: economy, politics, prison state USA, texas

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