The Agonist - Liberties

Crime Fighting With Obama!

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:59:04 -0700

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing

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Supreme Court Returns Rule of Law

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:18:07 -0700

The decision of the Supreme Court yesterday was a return to the rule of law in this country in the most basic sense. The writ of habeas corpus, one of the most fundamental precepts of American law, was upheld even though this administration pushed the Detainee Treatment Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 through Congress to circumvent this basic precept. The ruling which was 5-4 in favor of the detainee’s, this was a slap in the face to the Bush Administration that had heretofore counted on the supplicant Congress to willingly follow their incessant attacks on the Constitution.

The prevailing opinion was given by Justice Kennedy, who by abiding by precepts that predated our Bill of Rights, has helped this nation return to the rule of law that citizens in this country can be proud of. The dismantling of the Constitution that this criminal administration has embarked on since it took office with voluminous “signing statements” numerous Presidential Directives and willful disregard for the rule of law have been thwarted by the highest court in the land. All Americans should celebrate this ruling and cheer for the five Justices that put the law over the wishes of this administration. You can see the text of the decision at: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/06-1195.pdf

Obama and McCain; Two Sides of The Same Coin

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:12:50 -0700

I’ve waited to write this article for a while now. I used to be a loyal die-hard Democrat for 54 years of my life. I no longer know what a “Democrat” is anymore; I don’t know what a “Progressive” is either. I once thought that a “Progressive” was words that people who were too shy to say they were “liberals” used in its place. I don’t feel that way anymore. These so called “Progressives” aren’t liberals, they are something else completely. They are not people that have liberal values that put the welfare of the people of our country first. There are mass-media believers that can’t think past the last “sound-bite” they heard on a campaign video from the DNC.

Multitude I: Social Production and Biopower

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 04:01:50 -0700

(An ongoing review of Multitude, by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri.)

In the contemporary period of transition, the global interregnum, we can see emerging a new topography of exploitation and economic hierarchies the lines of which run above and below national boundaries. We are living in a system of global apartheid. We should be clear, however, that apartheid is not simply a system of exclusion, as if subordinated populations were simply cut off, worthless, and disposable. In the global Empire today, as it was before in South Africa, apartheid is a productive system of hierarchical inclusion that perpetuates the wealth of the few through the labor and poverty of the many. The global political body is in this way also an economic body defined by the global divisions of labor and power.

pp. 166-67

Before I get started explaining anything else about this book, there are two concepts that are critical to understand: Biopower and biopolitics. Both terms were originally coined by Michel Focault, though Hardt and Negri have their own interpretations of them that appear to be slightly different and a little narrowed for their own purposes.

Actually, before giving definitions of these two terms something else must be explained: The nature of social life. Every day, every moment, in every action we take, we build our collective social structure. Systems of kinship, friendship, production, and so on are all recreated every single day by every single one of us. We all agree to wake up every morning and generally carry on the reality of yesterday.

South Carolina to Offer Cross on Car Plates

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:03:55 -0700

Sean D. Hamill | Charleston, SC | June 6

NYT - South Carolina drivers will be the first in the nation to be offered license plates that carry the phrase “I Believe” and a Christian cross over a stained-glass window under a law that took effect on Thursday.

Critics have threatened to fight the law in court, saying the license plate represents an illegal state endorsement of religion.

Age is Not a Barrier to Bringing about change. What's your excuse?

Mon, 26 May 2008 07:06:04 -0700

A good friend of mine that I have known for over 20 years has a very special son. He inspires us to hope - and to act.

My friend's email:

I wanted to bring to your attention that my son's documentary done by
Time Inc. was posted tonight on the artist's website... within the next
few days it will be placed on the Time Inc. website.

Hollywood was recently invited to speak at the Democratic National
Convention in Denver on behalf of victim's rights... On Saturday he met
with Senator Barack Obama in Harrisburg and on Sunday he had a closed
door meeting with Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Bob Casey

Remember, driving is a privilege

Fri, 23 May 2008 04:21:26 -0700

... and it looks like we're on our way to being able to curtail that privilege en mass for the first time evah. Yes, the FBI is poised and willing to work with GM, AT&T and anybody else they deem necessary in order to protect the Homeland. So all we're lacking now is a seatbelt like OnStar law, for safety's sake d

U.S. citizenship to be checked in event of a storm

Sat, 17 May 2008 01:15:45 -0700

Lynn Brezosky | Brownsville | May 15

San Antonio Express-News - Ending speculation about the fate of the Rio Grande Valley's undocumented immigrants during a hurricane evacuation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has confirmed it will check the citizenship both of people boarding buses to leave the Valley and at inland traffic checkpoints.

Those determined to be in the country illegally will be taken to detention centers away from the hurricane's path and later processed for deportation.

"It's business as usual at the checkpoints," said Dan Doty, spokesman for CBP's Rio Grande Valley sector. "We'll still check everybody."

Locals responded with predictions of humanitarian disaster.

A Short Introduction to "Multitude"

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:48:54 -0700

I recently picked up a copy of “Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire” by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. I’m only through part one right now, but there are some pretty interesting insights in it I’d like to share here. I’m not fully convinced of the authors’ point of view yet, but it is certainly a different way of looking at the current state of affairs around the globe.

Hart and Negri assert that the globe is, at this moment, subject to Empire. This Empire is not characterized by the old imperialist ambitions of nation states but rather by a “network power” that includes nation states, corporations, supranational institutions, and others. It is a system of influence and patronage that sustains itself, with no single power being dominant (though some are much more powerful than others).

The network power we claim is “imperial” not “imperialist.” Not all the powers in Empire’s network, of course, are equal… but despite inequalities they must cooperate to create and maintain the current global order, with all of its internal divisions and hierarchies.

Wars and influence peddling around the world should not be looked upon as a rehash of the “Great Game” or as a quest for greater sovereignty by individual nation-states. Instead, all this is just the struggle for relative dominance of various actors within the overarching hierarchies of Empire.

There are innumerable armed conflicts waged across the globe today, some brief and limited to a specific place, others long lasting and expansive. These conflicts might be best conceived as instances not of war but rather civil war… This civil war should be understood now not within the national space, since that is no longer the effective unit of sovereignty, but across the global terrain… From this perspective all of the world’s current armed conflicts, hot and cold… should be considered imperial civil wars, even when states are involved. This does not mean that any of these conflicts mobilizes all of Empire… but rather that they exist within, are conditioned by, and in turn affect the global imperial system… [Combatants] are struggling rather for relative dominance within the hierarchies at the highest and lowest levels of the global system.

Calif. Supreme Court rejects gay marriage ban

Thu, 15 May 2008 15:23:52 -0700

San Francisco | May 15

MSNBC - Constitutional initiative drive under way in state to restrict unions.

In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.

To the US Media and The US Government

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:05:55 -0700

I'm tired of the networks telling me what the news means. More importantly, if the news media would tell us all the news instead of what they want us to hear; we wouldn't need these mindless pundits telling us what it all means. This country had been around for 332 years without a King telling us what we need to know. The news stations leave out 90% of what is really going on in the world. We hear about freaking celebrities, we hear "human interest" stories, we hear enough crap to drive us crazy. How about news that affects our lives? That would be a welcome change from the pabulum that you dish out. I need to know about Brittany Spears custody battle about as much as I need to know the price of pork belly futures. Put it on MTV where it belongs.

Right or Left? It Should be Whats's Right or Wrong

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:46:53 -0700

Woody Guthrie once sang “This Land is Your Land, This Land is my land”, and you know what folks, it still is. This isn’t Monsanto’s land, this isn’t The Federal Government’s land, and it’s OUR land. The Federal Government works for us, the citizens of this country. That’s you and I. We say what’s done in our name. We are America. You might have forgotten about that in the last few decades, but I’d like to gently remind you that as in the first document of this nation it says “We the People”. Not we the agribusiness, not we the defense contractors, not we the Homeland Security apparatus. Bush is not our King. He is our servant. The Congress is supposedly the house of the people, not of professional politicians that make a living out of dealing out this nation’s wealth to corporations. We never envisioned “professional politicians” that stayed decades reaping fortunes on the business of the people.

Malaysian woman can leave Islam

Thu, 08 May 2008 05:25:52 -0700

Penang, Malaysia | May 8

BBC - A religious court in Malaysia has allowed a Muslim convert to leave the Islamic faith, in what is being hailed as a landmark ruling.

Penang's Sharia court ruled that Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah was free to return to Buddhism, following the collapse of her marriage to a Muslim man.

Watchdogs prompt FBI to withdraw 'unconstitutional' National Security Letter

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:41:36 -0700

Nick Juliano | May 7

Raw Story - The few cases that have gone before a judge all have prompted the FBI to back down, ACLU lawyer Melissa Goodman said.

The FBI has withdrawn an illegal National Security Letter seeking information from an online library and has lifted a gag order that until Wednesday prevented any discussion of the information request.

Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation helped the Internet Archive push back against what they say was an overly broad and unlawful request for information on one of its users. The FBI issued its National Security Letter in November, but ACLU, EFF and Archive officials were precluded from discussing it with anyone because of a gag order they say was unconstitutional.

After nearly five months of haggling, the FBI eventually withdrew its NSL, which requested personal information about at least one user of the Internet Archive. Founded in 1996, the archive is recognized as a library by the state of California, and its collections include billions of Web records, documents, music and movies.

Tourists Guilty of Traveling-While-Middle-Eastern Were Actually Tourists

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:00:25 -0700

Sara Jean Green | Seattle, WA | May 6, 2008

Seattle Times - Following up on this post, it appears that the men taking pictures on a Ferry from Seattle were tourists not terrorists:

Two ferry riders sought by FBI last summer were just tourists
By Sara Jean Green

Last summer, the FBI launched an international search for two men after crew members and riders on a Washington State Ferry reported their unusual behavior — namely that they were taking pictures below deck, in areas that don't hold much interest for most tourists.

A ferry captain snapped their photo, which was passed along to the FBI.