Vision

I've finished the "Vision" section of my political site. It took me a while because I had an idea of what was going to be in it and how it would look but those two ideas weren't playing well together. So instead of having something really specific I have a gist of my philosophy on how to make this country great.
My sentimental over flashy way of defining greatness.
A bit of trivia on this comic. The icon for the section is a take on Ronald Reagan's description of America as a "shining city on a hill". I like that imagery but I am more inclined to follow Ron Paul's interputation of that statement- to lead the world by example not through force.
Though the Doctor and I would have some different ideas on what kind of example to lead.
http://www.nilvsdcbs.com/vision.html

Puppet In Chief

I heard that Bush's approval ratings are up so I thought I'd dust off my old comic strip Puppet In Chief. A series of comics about Dubya being interviewed (and playing the part of Neo from The Matrix) check them out at http://www.nilgravity.com/puppetinchief.htm and there's more at Chicago6corners

non-lethal weapons are still weapons.

I posted the video above because if it wasn't labeled one might assume that it happened somewhere outside the use. The people are terrified and in that moment don't know what the police are shooting at them. Imagine what it would be like to have been there
It's loud and bright like a bomb (that's the flash bangs). The police are shooting bullets at you, but the bullets whiz by so fast you don't know that they are rubber. So you try to run away but you can't see where you're going because you're eyes are welling up like they did when your nose was broken in the seventh grade and even if you manage not to run into something or another terrified person you can't get far because your lungs are burning.
I've never been in that kind of situation. The closest I've been was on the way to a war protest and watching the cops with their batons in hand smacking it, ready for action,  though they out numbered us and all the kids around me were suburbanite teenagers. It made me really upset and I asked a fire chief to ask the officer if he would put his weapon away. The fire chief refused and I told him "I would ask him but he'd probably use it on me". he agreed but still did nothing.
Later I heard other protesters thanking the police for keeping the order. Which was a better way of showing the police we weren't their enemies. This protest was in Chicago after all and there is a history of protest going badly, I just wish that SOME of them didn't look like they were hoping something would happen.
I watch the video above and ask "Who is being protected and served?"  I don't think the police are any better or worse than any other citizen but I do think their perception of events are skewed. I don't think they realize non-lethal weapons are still weapons. I think it's easy for them to forget the damage these weapons can do.
The reason assault is such a felony charge for civilians is because a well placed punch can kill someone. I have a friend who is a highly trained martial artist. Grabbed a kid from behind. The kid flipped my friend over and broke his skull open. My friend's training was defeated by luck.
People have died from being tasered by police and there is a former marine in critical condition. And police may test these weapons on themselves and think they're perfectly safe. But those tests are in controlled conditions, not in the chaos of the street. When an mouthy speeder gets tased she doesn't have two friends holding her arms, or a pad to land on.
Don't get me wrong if police think there is any chance that they are in any physical danger- they should kick some ass. I realize that life is fragile and that thing being thrown from the crowd could be a brick and it could fracture their skull. I'm just asking that they realize that the lives on the other side are just as fragile.



PS
When I say life is fragile I am not just talking about death. This is not the movies where the action hero can take all kinds of damage and be fine in the sequel. Many injuries never heal quite right. People wear mask paintballing because a paintball to the eye could blind that eye permanently. Image the damage a rubber bullet could do. There were children in that crowd in oakland.

PSS

possible blow back from this crackdown: Major cities buying Pain Rays. Pain rays are microwave broadcasts that makes everyone in an area feel like they are on fire. Pain rays are probably way safer than other crowd control but that also means police will be less hesitant to use them

CRAWLERS funny it was an exit a second ago

funny, it was an exit a second ago.

Intermission 2

Intermission 2

CRAWLERS Reporting in (100 pages!!!)

Reporting in

CRAWLERS fortified

fortified

CRAWLERS varied interests

the auto update on blogger never seems to work for me this actually posted yesterday


varied interests...

CRAWLERS captive audience

captive audience

moral relativism

Everybody hopes that life is like a dancer's pirouette

With grace we've dodged each conflict and decision that we've met

Everybody tells themselves that they must be justified

They do what they do because they're trying to get by

-Murder By Death, The Devil Drivers

I don't believe in good or evil or moral relativism. I spent at least a half hour talking to Christians trying to convert me and when I said I didn't believe in good or evil  they said ahh moral relativism and I said "ahh not really"
I believe that people do things for various reasons with various consequences and all we can do is be aware of our impact on others and be aware of it.
I had to look up Moral Relativism to see if it meant what I thought it meant. It turns out that I primarily look at things as a subcategory of Moral Relativism called Descriptive Relativism. Basically I don't judge things initially I understand them.
When a tiger attacks it's trainer, it isn't because it's evil, it's because it is a tiger. When a corporation fleeces it's customers, it isn't evil, it's a corporation. When John Edwards and Newt Gingrich cheated on their sick wives, it isn't because they are evil, it's because they are men.
I hope the tiger one is pretty self explanatory. Tigers and other animals do not have less powerful versions of our brains. Each species has it's own operating system. And when an animal attacks it is because the human didn't understand the animal's "programming".
Corporations are legal constructs that are designed to make a profit. And as I've said before the executives have a legal obligation to make a profit. You can not blame a corporation for shady practices when their employees are obligated to be cut throat.
John Edwards and Newt Gingrich can't be blamed for wanting some non-chemo nookie. Men are made to have certain needs, that are different than the needs of women. A man's "programming" puts greater emphasis on the physical aspect of love where a woman's "programming" puts greater emphasis on the emotional. Men and women tend to become unfaithful for very different reasons.

But saying they can't be blamed for WANTING these things mean that the rest of us shouldn't hold them accountable.

We don't let tigers roam the streets because we know it will lead to attacks. We have Animal Control to keep dangerous animals from interfering with human beings. And yeah, it sucks that means that if my friendly huskies tunnel out of my yard, I pay the price. But I understand why animal ownership is REGULATED in this way.
We REGULATE corporations to make sure that the natural controls of a free market (competition, supply and demand) can not be circumvented. It's understandable for businesses to want to be deregulated, the same way the huskies don't like that I ran fencing on the ground in their favorite digging area. The point of regulation is not to inhibit business, but to keep business from inhibiting the freedom of their competition and the consumer.
As for the cheaters, the didn't do anything wrong by cheating on their wives. The did something wrong by breaking their agreement with their wives. If the wives of these men forgive them then that should be the end of it. The only business it is of society is if the wife doesn't forgive him. Then as a society it is in our best interest that she takes him to the cleaners for violating their contract (wedding vows).
My way of seeing the world isn't a way to make some 'evil' or 'wrong' things alright. It's about making an honest assessment of the situation and deciding what actually matters and what we should let slide. It also opens ourselves up to solutions to problems. For example:
Ron Paul was booed for saying that Bin Laden's justification of 9/11 was our foreign policy. He wasn't saying that Bin Laden was justified or that we shouldn't have killed him (Ron Paul actually supported going into Afghanistan to get Bin Laden back in 2001). Ron Paul was explaining if we do not want to inspire future Bin Laden's we should change our foreign policy.

Staying on Message

Standing here like a comedian,I repeat what I say, again 

and again and again

until the meaning has become an imitation of itself,

An impression of an original defeats the fucking purpose

but it's looking more and more like the same place that we started.

-Against Me, Holy Shit! 

I've been thinking a lot about "The Message". Which includes a lot of things like: Why does the media make having a varying agenda sound like a good thing when it's the Tea Party, but uses it to dismiss Occupy Wall Street?
In the age of the internet and the 24 hour news cycle it's important to control the message. But there are some inherent dangers of doing that.
When you keep repeating the same line over and over again it does make you seem more consistent but it also makes you more reflexive than thoughtful. When you have a shtick you start to steer questions to your talking point instead of answering them.
This leaves no room for nuance. And lack of nuance leads to lack of compromise . And we're seeing where that gets us because almost everyone in office sticks to script instead of being thoughtful and listening to people.
I am sort of on the opposite side of the spectrum. I'm fueled by creativity. And it creates a problem because if I've said something enough to people in private, I forget to include it when posting online.
I'm hoping with my campaign to move myself towards speaking with a clear consistent message while bringing other polititians closer to being thoughtless talking points droids.

CRAWLERS poetic license...

poetic license...

CRAWLERS all business

all business