Thursday - more link-a-rama

See, this is good. I find 'em, I tell you about 'em, and I make you do the work of reading them.

First things first. In local news, an air quality study here in Houston has discovered that being the center of the petrochemical universe brings with it certain undesireable elements, and, no I don't mean too many pickup trucks and men chewing tobacco. Our air sucks. Ass. And, we find out that Texas (being Texas) has never implemented recommended air quality regulations AND that our TNRR (which is, I think, only organized to issue fishing licenses) doesn't even know where all of its own detectors are, let alone have them set to measure the national standard for air pollution. Oh, and we don't count automobiles, residential fireplaces, and anything but industrial pollution in our official air counts. Big changes recommended; the real estate developers have probably already huddled to figure out how to keep this from further attention.

Did you hear about the NIE that says we (the 'Murricans) are far less safe than we were before 9/11? That we've done nothing in the war against terror? N-O-T-H-I-N-G? No? Hell, last night my room mate didn't realize that we (the 'Murricans) had tortured people. To death. A couple of dozen of them. Then, he figured we'd only have done that because they were bad people. Our government would NEVER have done that. Re-read yesterday's Habeas Corpus link if you're thinking THAT'S true. Here's an article suggesting that it was our intelligence community engaging in a little karma action - releasing information about the NIE that our government had been covering up since April, 2006.

And, if you've been paying a lick of attention, you've been hearing the rumble that our Army is short-staffed, under-equipped and .. basically in the state of the German Wehrmacht around February 1945. Brigades and divisions that are still deployed as full-strength ON PAPER, but that really don't have even half of their combat effectiveness. Here's inside information that talks about that.

Let's see, where do we go next? I haven't mentioned Chuck yet this morning; he's hooked up to an IV drip of morphine and fenigrin (which I've probably mis-spelled, so forgive me.) Like 46% of the population, he's uninsured. Were you aware that our private pay health care system consumes more of our national economy than that of any other nation in the world? Before you start telling me that people in Canada can't get hip replacements (which is NOT true,) you should read about the economic harm that our health care system is doing to our economy - and then ask yourself the question - "if we ('Murricans) spent a reasonable sum on health care, what could we do with 10% of our annual economic output, which would then be freed up?"

And, last, if you've stuck your head in the sand on the state of our Constitution over the last five years, if you've said "they're only going after bad people," if you've thought "well, this really only applies to non-Americans," if you've ignored that the Freedoms that we are "promoting" around the world are being disassembled - you could read this: the most conservative of the conservative pundits (and I don't include the intellectually bankrupt entertainment staff at CNN or Fox News) are coming UNGLUED about what McCain & cronies have agreed to do with the current government.

I think that it's time for a little refresher. Pastor Niemoller was the Pastor of the largest congregation in Berlin at the time of the Nazi's rise to power. He was an initial supporter of them, and he became one of their most vocal critics. He spent eight years in Nazi concentration camps - from 1937 (two years before the war) until he was released by Allied troops.

Pastor Niemoller wrote a poem about his time in Nazi Germany, which I quite from an excellent discussion over on Wikipedia:

Original	Translation
Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Kommunist. Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten, habe ich geschwiegen; ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat. Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten, habe ich nicht protestiert; ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter. Als sie mich holten, gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.	When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Now, you take a few minutes - think about that the legislation that the house just passed.

Have a look again at the article on Habeas Corpus from yesterday. The Senate is expected to pass this bill today or tomorrow. The Democrats are too afraid of being painted as "pro-terrorist" to do anything. They are giving themselves (the President, that is) the right to:

• Have someone "detained" without a warrant, including US citizens on US soil
• Never have to charge them with a crime
• Never have to allow them access to a lawyer or to a Judge for a probable cause hearing
• Never have to reveal to anyone who is held, where and why
• Prosecute anyone who reveals information about one of the people who is detained

Does this sound like the values our Country was founded on that you learned about in grade school?

No?

Now, read Pastor Niemoller's poem again and reflect. I'll wait.

Bonus points if you can read it in German.