stop or ill sue!

the supreme court just turned over the DC law outlawing hand guns. this is a sticky issue. im all for freedom, but im also all for not getting shot. however, i lived most of my life in states with pretty liberal gun laws and have not been shot yet. also, i think if i were to be shot, it probably wouldnt be by a legal gun owner. i have to say that most people i know with guns are very responsible with them and i think that people should be allowed to hunt, shoot for fun, and protect their homes even if that does seem a little Mad Max to me.

here i go, siding withi Dick Cheney of all people. but i do share the court's dissenters concerns "that would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons." He said such evidence "is nowhere to be found."those regulations that concern me are those that exist to limit the sale of machine guns and background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and mentally unstable people. i honestly would be in favor of very strict restrictions on who could own guns and very thorough checks to keep guns out of the hands of those who might misuse them, but allow those who are responsible to have the privilege, but i dont support an all out ban.

what do you think?

WaPo

Livonia multiculturalism

there have been a lot of op-ed pieces popping up lately about the two Muslim women who were turned away from their prime seats at the Obama rally last week in Detroit. im trying to figure out why. its old news, and it wasnt much when it was new news.

sure, it never should have happened and whoever the hapless volunteers were who made the decision feel terrible, im sure. its over. Obama called the women to apologize, and in the most recent Free Press article i read, one of them is still throwing her support his way and the other didnt comment. because the thing is, it wasnt Obama who asked them to move. and if anyone is going to open the minds of america its Obama.

when this happened last week, i thought back to the first person i knew who wore the hijab. she was a girl i went to high school with. it took me a couple years to figure out it was a religious thing. i just thought she did it for the sake culture, rather than religion. like i said before, i had a very culturally open upbrining, and really didnt think twice about it. one day, someone in a class said to me 'you know shes muslim. thats why she wears a that headdress.'
'headdress??? its a scarf. and who cares if shes muslim? come back when you find a cannibal.'

come to think of it, i was good friends with a girl who's father is from India, but i dont know what religion she is/was. but i do know that she is a vegan, which i found to be interesting and very respectable. i crushed on another girl whos family was from Lebanon and absolutely mystified me. talk about culture shock... that was my first direct contact with arab christians. they sure arent like catholics. then i was best friends with a girl who spoke Ukranian at home. i was there enough to start understanding the constant fights with her mother. for coming from one of the whitest cities ever, i had some pretty multicultural friends. maybe thats where my naive notion that we can all get along if we quit being assholes comes from. becuase i had planty of differences with them, but we got along great. for the most part i was fascinated and just tried not to ask offensive questions. and if a pretty enthusiastinc carnivore like me can date a vegetarian, i think theres hope. and really, isnt that the idea? well, that and ending an unjust war, ballancing the budget, fixing health care, and generally restoring our image in the world... theres more to worry about than the blunders of a couple of campiagn volunteers. lots more.

Detroit: a leader?

its true. and not just in urban decay, foreclosures, and crime anymore. Detroit id now home to an increasing number of urban farms. as settlers did hundreds of years ago, a group called Urban Farming is working with Wayne County and the city to use public owned land to start gardens which are not fenced off. anyone is welcome to plant and harvest in the gardens. whats left is donated to food banks.

check it out.

were not living like we should

theres a lot of hubub about the price of oil and gas lately. no one should be surprised. but in looking for a solution, ive heard everything from absurd pandering to actual plans. the one thing that should be evident here is that we need to reduce our dependance on oil. not just foreign oil, but oil in general. its harming the economy and the environment.

there is a myth that there lies a wealth of US owned oil in US coastal areas that envirnomentalits have padlocked. thing is, most of the domestic oil is open to drilling. in Aleska, the Gulf of Mexico, and beneath the Rockies. and many of these places have existing leases that oil companies are not even using. they are attempting to grab as many leases and permits as possible before the oild friendly bush admin leaves office.

the reality is that even if we opened up the small amounts of oil reserves on the coasts and began developing them, they wouldnt impact the market for 20 years. and its wholly unrealistic to think that the US, with 3% of the worlds oil, can increase production to a point where it has any significant effect on global prices. the reality is that we control a minority interest in a asset that we consume 50% of. the way to change for the better is to lessen our dependence on oil through research in to biofuels, fuel cells, plug in cars, hybrids and other technology we havent even thought of.

McCain's backing of absurd plans to have a gas tax holiday, open up coastal drilling, and open 30 nes nuclear reactors shows that hes interested in now, and not protecting our future. more and more it seems like he will do anything to get in the whitehouse. whether its good policy or an obvious blunder, whatever garners a vote, and really, dont we, and future Americans deserve better. it becomes more and more clear to me that McCain realizes that he wont be around much longer and wont have to suffer tha consiquences of his own actions. just about every day the idea of President McCain makes me ever more sick.

Obama is not perfect, but he realizes that our problems cant be solved by quick fixes. at some point you have to face the music. we cant keep passing the buck. we need a president, a government, who will tackle these tough issues. someone to look at the reality and the options and make the tough decision to do the right thing, not the patch.

a stitch in time saves nine. had we come up with a viable energy policy after the 70's crisis, the current fossil fuel pinch would be much less acute. maybe we can learn this time around that a quick fix isnt the right way to go. maybe we can elect a government that will help America become the great country it once was. it wont happen over night. i cant happen overnight. it will take time, but it can happen if we all open our eyes and make the right choices.

NYTimes

i think he has a point

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al Maliki has joined the chorus of voices criticizing the US plans for staying in Iraq. hes right. at this point were doing very little good. we are only suppressing some of the violence and terrorism that we create there. not to mention all the ill will we are creating by being there anymore.

the negotiations are to replace the current UN agreement that governs our presence over there. the current one expires at the end of the year. Maliki wants continued protection from outside influence in Iraq, but doesnt want to give US troops and especially not contractors immunity from Iraqi courts. sounds reasonable to me. scale back the presence to a few forts, mostly supporting air power and continue to help train Iraqis and get our battered troops home.

the American side wants immunity, but its a good check on power. you think we'd give any other nation's military immunity inside the US. no way. plus, the shoot first, aske questions later policy becomes a lot less viable when you know that an Iraqi court might hand down a death sentence for your murder of a civilian. the way i see it, we need to be gone. we ought to support from the outside, but lest take the internal training wheels off at least. its what they want, and its what we need.

it DOES exist

there is a spine. the supreme court has found what the congress and especially the senate lack: a back bone. well, a 'liberal' back bone. sure Bush and his cronies have no problem asserting their authority, but all those democrats elected in 2006 have had a lot of trouble standing up to Bush as they had promised. they still let the republican minority push their agenda. but thats another story that Rolling Stone has already covered, albeit in a Fox News for liberals format.

anyway, in an entirely too close for comfort 5-4 vote, the constitution and core American values do in fact matter and must be respected. the supreme court struck down the law that Bush pushed through that basically stripped prisoners in Guantanamo(and elsewhere???) of the rights of Habeas Corpus. so prisoners there, like anyone imprisoned by the US has a right to know who accused them, of what, and what the evidence is, AND has a right to fight the charges in federal court.

as Eugene Robinson asks 'we really need the supreme court to tell us that?' i dont think so. but we do need it to tell Bush that. its especially pleasing after Bush was able to appoint a couple of hyper conservatives to the bench.

Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times." like times of war. they have existed throughout a civil war and two world wars and should have persisted during this war. not to mention we shouldnt have started and shouldnt be fighting this war.

the constitution contains our core values. the constitution spells out what is at the heart of America. not the Bible. not the Koran. not Fox News, not CNN, not Rolling Stone, and certainly not George Bush. thankfully our highest court has in one decision affirmed that and shown us that checks and balances were put in place for a reason. for the highest reason. because there are certain things that we stand for.

now im going to steal Robinson's words, because he sums it up quite beautifully.

I say "amazingly" because it's still hard for me to believe that arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention and torture continue to be debated, as if there were pros and cons. The Supreme Court has now made clear that while justice and honor may be mere inconveniences for Bush, they remain essential components of our national identity.

"The nation will live to regret what the court has done today," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in a dissent, warning that the ruling "will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed."

Everyone hopes he's wrong, of course. But if the only thing that mattered were security, why would we bother to have an independent judiciary? Why would there be any constitutional or legal guarantees of due process for anyone? We could just lock up anyone who fit the demographic profile of the average armed robber, say, or anyone with psychological traits often displayed by embezzlers.

The Guantanamo decision will create headaches for the federal courts. The process of granting hearings to the detainees will be messy, imperfect and at times frustrating. I'm confident that in the end the system will work. George W. Bush may not trust America's basic values and highest ideals, but I do.

WaPo

every time i go downtown early in the morning i see one of the most asinine and wasteful things: people hosing off sidewalks. every day. a large number, if not a majority, of downtown office buildings have workers with hoses, sometimes power washers, cleaning sidewalks in front of buildings.

we live in a relatively water rich area of the world, but that doesnt mean we need to waste what we have. remember how gas was dirt cheap a few years ago? sure water is cheap now, but why waste? and what about tomorrow. people struggle to find water in parts of the world and here, in DC, thousands of gallons a day are being used to clean sidewalks. couldnt we just use brooms? maybe hose things down once a month or something. seems cheaper to give that guy a $25 broom once or twice a year rather than run a hose for an hour or two every morning.

maybe its a small thing, but it irritates me. it also irritates me when people throw paper into the trash when the recycling bin is right next to it. just stop and think. there are things a lot of us could do that wouldnt seriously alter out lives that could help us save money and conserve resources. and before you say why, why not? even if it turns out unnecessary, what harm has it done?

something i never thought id say

lets give it up for Harper Woods. you know, that little suburb of Detroit, MI. that one that most Detroiters only have a vague idea of where it is. that little inconsequential municipality is taking on one of the world's largest corporations and the world's richest family.

i heard this story on NPR this morning. the gist of which is that the Harper Woods municipal retirement fund has a few thousand dollars invested in BAE Systems, a huge one stop shop for making war. well Harper Woods alleges that in a Saudi defense contract that BAE gave the Saudi Prince Bandar $2 billion over 20 years. and whats more is that British intelligence had been pursuing this line before, when that Saudis threatened to stop their intelligence cooperation with the UK. the investigation was called off.

so now little Harper Woods is going after the Saudis and BAE. a line which Great Britain was startled out of pursuing. right is right. i applaud them for it. check out the whole story. this is the kind of stuff that makes people say that fact is stranger than fiction.

oh, and i love Michigan accents. LOVE them.

love-hate

i need to start by saying i love Detroit. i get giddy thinking that ill be home in under a month and go bowling at the Garden Bowl and maybe catch a show at the Lager House. or maybe just show up for th $1 PBR. from its slums and crumbling factories to the gleaming new buildings around Campus Martius, i love Detroit.

i hate the powers that be and the corruption. it infuriates and saddens me. no one and no government is perfect, but Detroit's has become a joke. a laughing stock. a mayor who obviously lied under oath and spent over $8 million in city cash to cover his ass and a City Council that has less bite than my roommate's lap dog. and, evidently, a police department that wants to undo all the good thats been done over the last decade.

the Detroit police, heavily armed and in riot gear raided a dance party at an art gallery. the allege that the gallery was serving alcohol after 2. they ticketed attendees and impounded their cars. seriously? a few students and yuppies dancing at 3 AM is really the biggest issue that Detroit has to worry about?

"Absolutely," said police spokesman, James Tate. "Because this is a violation. What's the difference between this location and a location we raided two weeks ago? The law is the law. We can't treat two types of businesses differently."

i dont know about you, but ive seen Detroit SWAT on A&E, and they generally arent busting into art galleries handing out over a hundred tickets and impounding more than 40 cars that will cost $900 to get back. on the show, the take down drug dealers, chop shops, and people with guns and a vendetta. in the briefings they show on TV, theyve never talked about and insidious group of hipsters and students who want to dance, and maybe have a beer at 3am. dear god, send in the army.

this city needs help. Kilpatric and Archer have helped downtown get a face lift and brought some more money in from the burbs, but its business as usual behind the facade. corruption as usual. a DPD cash grab. they stand to make over $39,000 from the impounded cars alone. not to mention the fines handed out. im glad the ACLU has their eye on this one.

Detroit will NEVER be a world class city with tactics and leadership like this. many, myself included, have bemoaned the perception of Detroit by the world at large. we have also joked about its image. i would love to see Detroit be what i imagine it was in the 50's and early 60's. it was a boom town fueled by the Big 3 with dynamic, nationally recognized music scene that defined the sound of the 50's and early 60's. Detroit was Motown. it was a place to be. now its a place to avoid. its a place that loses population. its a place i hate, because it could be so much more, but seems to refuse to pick its self up. refuses to reform.

if only we could live up to our motto: "Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus"
(Latin for, "We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes") the ashes of the riot blew away decades ago, but Detroit still wallows and anguishes in its shadow. and until the leadership changes, nothing will change in Detroit. nothing beyond the superficial, anyway. still, i love Detroit, and i genuinely hope that i see the day when Detroit is a city to respect and revere, rather than an afterthought of urban America.

the raid article. the Free Press may be Detroit's best hope.

damned elephants

what is wrong with debate? so maybe you dont pass the first version, but to just kill a bill that would aggressively address the building climate crisis is not just stupid, its irresponsible and Al Gore is going to shit in your bed. and you deserve it. and by you, i mean the republicans and few democrats who couldnt get together to bring this debate to floor.

just looking at party lines, there is no way i am voting McCain this fall. not when he associates himself with people who kill a climate bill over the costs. hey guys, when you force innovation, it creates a who new set of jobs that create the solutions youve perscribed. and whole new industries can come out of this. so coal companies might feel a pinch, but i bet the increase in solar and wind innovation brings as many if not more jobs. and probably better ones that mining coal.

the republicans have the blood of war on their hands, and now they are determined to stand idly by while our climate teeters on the brink. the startling climate statistic of the day: there have already been more tornadoes this year than last year. were barely into the season.

im gonna go ahead and jump on the change bandwagon. the status quo is not working. to the bandwagon! and away from these damned elephants.

racism and sexism

ok, let me set one thing straight: i am a white guy. theres nothing i can do about that. well, maybe superficially, but i will still have the mind of a white guy. sure, we may wish we lived in a world where no one saw race, but we do. its inevitable. all we can do is try not to let the bigotry of previous generations infect us.

race and sex do not make anyone more or less capable of doing much of anything. ok, so maybe guys can reach stuff on high shelves, and lift heavy stuff, but i dont think that those are prerequisites for president. and really, thats what im talking about. Obama is black and has a scary, vaguely Muslim name. Hilary is obviously a woman. but both are dynamic intelligent progressive people.

i recently moved in a primarily black neighborhood. i was a little afraid that i might not be accepted, but the neighbors are the friendliest i have known since i left my home town. its really been great. i wonder at times how safe it would be to walk home from the bar, but thats not really a reflection on race, but the fact that i know there have been muggings and whatnot in nearby areas.

things we dont know are always a little scary. the unknown can be terrifying. to be able to understand things, we fall back on whatever familiar signs we can find to figure out how to react. take any group of people on a street corner. if they are wearing ties, theyre waiting for a bus, if theyre in t-shirts and jeans, theyre loitering. a guy with a shaved head and tattoos on his shoulders in a tank top is intimidating to most. put a shirt and tie on him and hes clean cut. and none of this addresses the man himself.

my point is that we should all strive not to judge based on the surface of someone. especially a presidential candidate. theres plenty of evidence to judge all the candidates out there. im not just talking about their senatorial records, but a lifetime of what they have done. you can look online at their websites to see exactly where they stand. the truth of the matter is that in policy Clinton and Obama differ very little. i hope that Hilary supporters come to see that by November.

anyone who votes based on race or sex isnt going to be swayed by anything of substance. thats what scares me. im scared of rough men taking my money if i were to walk home from the bar, i dont care what color they are and i dont think they care what color i am. as for president, i dont care about color or sex. i do know that McCain's stances scare me, and i would never vote for him. i think Hilary can be a great leader, but from what i have seen, i like Obama better.

i hope that in my lifetime racism and sexism are outliers, and non issues. i know that there are many who still hold racist and sexist beliefs, but they are fading. i do my best to treat everyone the same when i meet them. generally, i hope for the best, brace for the worst, and expect something in between. remarkable often, people fall near the best end of the scale. and assholes come in every shape and color.

life is too short to live with hate in your heart. like John and Paul said, "all you need is love."

we have a nominee

almost.

the pundits are calling it. its only a matter of time til the math back it up. Obama is the nominee. im happy he is. its no secret that i was rooting for him. now i just hope he can overcome those who said they will vote for McCain if Hilary didnt get the nomination. i really hope they wise up by November. this is way too important to go the other way just because Hilary lost. look at McCain's rhetoric. it scares me. a lot.

a few resources:
McCain Revealed (AFLCIO)
TheRealMcCain
NPR stories