The Re Collection

I switched my auto insurance yesterday from Allstate to Oklahoma Farm Bureau. It’s a lot cheaper there, but that’s not why I switched.

Allstate is apparently the worst offender in the insurance industry’s mass exodus from the regions decimated by hurricane Katrina in 2005. A court case is beginning today in which homeowners are challenging Allstate’s claims of property abandonment — thus greasing the path of their own abandonment of responsibility to their policy holders, who paid the company for their services in good faith.

My policy for a 12 year old car isn’t much in the big picture for Allstate, but I feel better about the card in my wallet now. And it’s the least I could do for the victims of Katrina that need every little ounce of support they can get.

powered by performancing firefox

Or, you know, more legalistically:

SCOTUSblog: Hamdan Summary — And HUGE News
[…] the Court held that Congress had, by statute, required that the commissions comply with the laws of war — and held further that these commissions do not (for various reasons).

I’ve been in such a funk, depressed by the news at every turn. This makes me feel a little better.

Update from the There May Be a God After All department:
Think Progress » Supreme Court Decision on Gitmo Undermines Bush’s Legal Case For Warrantless Wiretapping

The impact of today’s Supreme Court decision on military commissions goes well beyond Guantanamo. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Authorization for the Use of Military Force – issued by Congress in the days after 9/11 – is not a blank check for the administration.

Update 2: Glenn Greenwald explains the decicion in more accessible language, but his post is a downer, because he basically articulates my first reaction: What’s to make the Cheney administration actually follow this ruling when they don’t follow laws they don’t like, and don’t care who objects.

But his summary is upbeat:

Nonetheless, opponents of monarchical power should celebrate this decision. It has been some time since real limits were placed on the Bush administration in the area of national security. The rejection of the President’s claims to unlimited authority with regard to how Al Qaeda prisoners are treated is extraordinary and encouraging by any measure. The decision is an important step towards re-establishing the principle that there are three co-equal branches of government and that the threat of terrorism does not justify radical departures from the principles of government on which our country was founded. [Emphasis mine]

For me, it all comes back to the media (and the tide of public opinion it can influence), and whether they will stand up on this one, finally. Or whether Spector will find some balls. Don’t hold your breath on either.

Update 3: Happpy meter swings down with Digby. Back to my original news gloom.

Update 4: Glenn responds to Digby (and others) with sunshine and light, and I’m calling it for GG, who’s been studying and writing exclusively on Presidential powers for a while now. And he is one lawyer I trust.

Final Update: Christy at Firedoglake gleans the web for reactions, celebrations, warnings so I don’t have to.

Bloggers Against Torture

Join Us!

Join Us!

I know it will come as a huge surprise to my loyal readers — all two of you — that I am taking a firm stand on this issue.

Add your blog to the anti-torture side of the internets by clicking the Join Us link. It’s a small step, but if enough do it, it may garner some Corporate Media attention and perhaps instill some small bit of shame among those who…I know who am I kidding, those folks have no shame or they wouldn’t be involved in the disgusting business in the first place.

Nonetheless, it can’t hurt, and will give you a reason to harp some more on such quaint notions as human rights and American idealism during the month of June (in addition to the always festive queer rights topics that June has provided for some time now).

If you follow the links, you will get to the site of the new film Road to Guantanamo which opens (somewhere, not where I am) on June 23. There is more info on the whole torture business as well in other links.

As difficult as it is to deal with this, this is being done in our name and so we have a responsibility to learn and of course to act to stop it. We cannot turn our eyes away and pretend it is not happening, which is a natural and understandable reaction. A new kind of strength is required in this movement now, and we (in which I of course include myself) must find it in ourselves.

This is a piece of
postive news, if a bit overdue. No no more “homesexuals” in their news articles. “The Gay Agenda” advances again!

My late friend Dana Whitehurst would be calling a press conference about now, proclaiming that his (and mine) 1986 letter to the St. Petersburg Times on this very language has finally been widely adopted — although the Times has been ahead of the AP in some regards on this.

Hey, Dana, once again, we were right; and the self-loathing pacifiers were wrong!

News on the Kinky Friedman for Governor campaign, a fairly positive profile in the Austin Chronicle, and a rather disconcerting report in the Dallas Morning News (see BugMeNot to bypass compulsory registration in both papers) , in which the Kinkster is quoted as saying that he rarely goes to the polls, but managed to vote for George W. Bush in 2004.

I’ve been somewhat queasily supporting Kinky, because I think his independent candidacy can help raise awareness about the grossly unfair ballot access laws in Texas, but his going for W in 2004 indicates a real lack of moral fiber, not to mention decent judgement of people (note the “humorous” quote about how Bush is a good man trapped in a Republican body). I appreciate honesty, and I think Kinky is refreshingly honest, but being honest, and being committed to justice, are very different things. He should have sat out voting in 2004 as well — or refrained from making a selection in the presidential race.

I will try to get a fuller version of his statement on this, since it’s possible that it’s out of context, or miscontrued, or simply wrong — or disinformation from the Democratic camp or elsewhere. But I cannot responsibly support him if this is confirmed by his campaign. There may be little chance of him winning and becoming governor, but I’d like to know that the person I vote for, if elected, is a member of the “reality-based community” and no one who willfully voted for George Bush, a known quantity, in 2004, can claim to be one.

advice to the lovelorn

picture yourself open
name yourself strong
give yourself flowers
act like you belong

Steve’s take on a MSM Wall-Street-themed take on blogs. You can count on him for a reality check. To the writer (of the NY Metro feature), blog readers are simply consumers, and blogdom is designed by Christof.

He references the dotcom disaster (and before that, I remember all the hoopla about the Japanese business model, that was going to leave us all in the dust), and all the CW about where that was going, as a cautionary tale. So have no fear about the Wal-Martization of blogs.

As one of his commenters stated:

What makes Gilliard solid, in my opinion, is his ruthless allergy to bullshit, his eye for creative abuse and his ability to caption his abuse (the better shots of the ongoing Stop Snitching “portraits” deserve framing IMO.) If Gilliard turns into a whiner or a panderer we will all leave his whining, pandering ass in the dust. He probably wouldn’t have it any other way.

What non-bloggers don’t understand is how time-consuming and difficult blogging is. Those who make it to the so-called A-list, usually do so because they work extremely hard and take it very seriously.

This is a new medium still in its infancy, but it has already changed the way information is produced and distributed. It has the potential to spread democracy in a viral way in which no tank, bullet or bomb can come close.

I am perfectly content to be a C-list (more like Z-list, but the NY Metro writer assumes only three levels to his heirarchical flowchart) blogger. My blog will not have advertising, unless it’s for items like books or films that promote my bigger agenda. It is an adjunct to my organizing work, and I think at this point I can safely say I won’t be selling out to on that score.

Right now, this blog is about progressive politics and the greater Waco, Texas, area known as “The Heart of Texas,” with a little science, food and personal diversions thrown in for seasoning. Not really a recipe for “success” as defined by Blogshares.

Update:
Peter Daou surveys the left side of blogland.

The attempt to marginalize progressive bloggers as part of an angry, unwashed, irrational mob is in full swing, but truth-telling has a self-sustaining power. Bloggers will continue to cut through the fabricated storylines, providing clarity, sanity, honesty, and an abiding loyalty to the Constitution and to the principles our country is founded upon.

History will look kindly on them.

And Reddhedd at FireDogLake takes the next logical step:

It seems to me that we have reached a point where things are moving up to a whole new level of discourse among progressives around the blogoverse. The question is: what direction do we take things from here? Now that is a question worth pondering, isn’t it?

Businesses have been encouraged by our government for years now to go into China, and the motivation was NOT to bring them our freedoms, but to take away their money. Now, the shit has hit the fan, because Yahoo, no doubt like other companies dancing to China’s tune, provided info that got a dissident identified and imprisoned for 8 years.

There will be hearings in the House this week. But as Steve Guillard correctly noted, there are only two choices here, and one of them is the right one.

I am a heavy user of various Yahoo services, and I recently contacted the company with my outrage over their release of search information to US spying agencies. Now this. I will be paying attention to the hearings, and seeing what Yahoo does about this. But things don’t look promising.

It will be a big hassle to move dozens of listserves to another service, to say nothing of my SBC account for internet access and several Yahoo mail accounts, but I will not continue to support Yahoo if this isn’t handled appropriately.

My message to Yahoo: Get out of China.

As explained in my previous post about my pending visit to the Bush ranch, I needed money to help me get there and back. I some donations tonight, enough to feel like I can go without being in constant panic mode over money. And it looks like I got a travel companion as well. Folks at Camilo’s talk at Maayflower UCC were very jazzed about what’s happening in Crawford, and made donations to help the Peace Center there keep the demonstrators as comfortable as possible.

If you are thinking about contributing, send me a note privately through the contact page on this site. If something happens and I need your assistance, I can contact you. That would give me some backup, but not make this a profitmaking enterprise. Otherwise, save your dough for another cause another day.

Well, I just swallowed my pride and made a mass appeal for donations via email to the greater activist community in OKC. I’ve needed to do it just to get a new computer, because the one I use to do a dozen or so web sites for grassroots organizations, now even on the national level, is so old and periously close to break down.

But the thing is, I really want to go be with Cindy Sheehan in Crawford TX and I have an opportunity at this very moment in time I don’t ordinarily have. So, that’s what I based the appeal on. Who knows what will happen. But hey, I’m even willing to camp out, that’s how much I want to do this. I’m not a camping kind of girl, so recognize that even in my impoverished condition, I am willing to make sacrifices!

So below is the letter I sent. I hope I haven’t embarrassed myself too much. Anyway, if you can help, hit the donations link.

Good folks,

I am goin’ to Crawford to be with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who is outside Bush’s ranch demanding an “audience” with him. (It’s been all over the news, but for more background, see www.codepink4peace.org and/or www.meetwithcindy.org) She’s reportedly has been threatened with arrest on Thursday, so maybe I will be too — Guilt by Association.

I am “without means”, and thanks to out-of-state family visiting, without responsibilities for much of August. Fortunately this gives me the freedom to make this trip, but unfortunately not much in the way of resources to undertake it, so if you would like to help me out, your donations will help with gas, food (unless I decide to join the hunger strike) and maybe even bail!

If you are supportive, and can afford it, please toss a few coins in my Paypal hat:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=gypsyresort%40yahoo%2ecom&item_name=Re%20Collection%20support&no_shipping=1&cn=Comments&tax=0&currency_code=USD&charset=UTF%2d8&charset=UTF%2d8

That link is so long, it may break; if it does, go to http://www.gypsyresort.com/re and look for the “donations” link under “Welcome” near the top.

While in Crawford, I will report for www.okimc.org, and other alternative news sources, and will take pics and share what I get newswise when I have internet access.

Most of you getting this know me and know of my activism and community work. But for the rest of you, here is some of my contributions to local progressive causes, as way of bona fides for my appeal:

Web sites created/maintained for:
OK Greens, Oklahoma Code Pink, Herland, Green Commons, Green Bloggers, Oklahoma Committee for Conscientious Objectors, Oklahoma Indymedia, Oklahoma Progressive Network (pending), Peace House

Organizing work for: OCCO, OK Greens, Oklahoma Progressive Network, Code Pink

And if you can’t send $, please send moral support via your thoughts and/or email! I’ll probably need it. Thanks!

Serena Blaiz
http://www.gypsyresort.com/re

I’m about to leave for Tulsa, for the national Greens meeting. Looking forward to talking with attendees from around the country, as well as other Okie Greens. I still don’t know where I’ll be sleeping, but going on faith that something will materialize.

When I was a teenager, and not allowed to swear or ever express any negativity at home, in my pent-up rage at just about everything, I developed a mega-curse I would rattle off whenever I got the opportunity. It was private, since I knew even then that it was kind of an embarrassing juvenile amalgram of every bad word an overprotected suburban teenybopper might know in the late sixties. However, it got ingrained, and even though I went on to have a better than average swear-word vocabulary, I still find “God-dammit-to-fucking-shit” coming out of my mouth — all one word, in one quick breath — when I am particularly pissed off about some outrage or injustice.

So that’s what I said when I read this.