Radical Avenue

Scary: Saudi Arabia
Not Scary: Syria
Saudi Arabia is an extraordinarily wealthy country full of bored, well educated men. Since many Saudis attended college in the West, they know all about democratic institutions. These men must wonder why their country is still run by a monarchy. Children grow up learning to hate the United States in madrassas. Since Saudi Arabia is a totalitarian regime where women have no rights, the country runs on testosterone. Most of the 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. So is Osama Bin Laden.

Syria is a poor country surrounded by enemies. Syria’s GDP is around $54 billion. Saudi Arabia’s GDP is $371 billion. When Israel bombed Syria a few weeks ago, the Syrian government not only didn’t retaliate, they didn’t even complain.

Scary: Pakistan
Not Scary: Iran
Pakistan is home to the Taliban, which is Al Qaeda’s closest ally. Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and Mullah Omar, three men bent on the destruction of America all live either in Pakistan or along its border with Afghanistan. Pakistan has an unstable government, with regular assassination attempts on its leaders. Pakistan has a nuclear bomb. A.Q. Khan, a Pakistani scientist, has sold nuclear technology to other countries.

Iran has no nuclear weapons. It is a poor Shia Persian country in a neighborhood full of wealthy Sunni Arab nations. It supported our liberation of Afghanistan from Taliban tyranny.

Scary: China
Not Scary: North Korea
China has the bomb. The socialist Chinese government also owns a boatload of American debt. Virtually everything on our store shelves is produced in China, making our safety dependent on Chinese workmanship. Even our pet food is made there. Since China sits on the UN Security Council, they have a virtual veto over many of our foreign policy initiatives. China supplied arms to our enemies during our wars with North Korea and North Viet Nam, thereby weakening the United States without getting its own hands dirty.

Millions of people have starved to death in North Korea over the past decade. The country is almost entirely dependent on China. Nuclear technology is its only bargaining chip in its dealings with the West. It sees the powerhouse economy in South Korea and is no doubt green with envy. It has much to gain from better relations with the United States.

Tired of politics? Check out these scary celebrity fashion disasters.

Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Korea, United States, nuclear bomb

The current nominee for Attorney General can’t say if water boarding is torture. It’s mind boggling. For a long time people joked about how the Bush administration wants to take our country back to the Dark Ages. Apparently the joke is on us. Of course water boarding is torture. It refers to holding someone’s head under water until they believe that they are about to drown. If the inquisitor’s timing is a bit off, the subject does drown.

Senator Leahy is holding up Mike Mukasey’s nomination for Attorney General until he can satisfactorily answer the question of whether water boarding is torture. The Senate should reject the nomination forthwith. If the guy doesn’t know if water boarding is torture, then he has no business serving as the chief law enforcement officer in the United States.

It would be one thing if President Bush had earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to cabinet level nominations, but that’s not the case. Bush has never been anything but dishonest and hyper-partisan in his dealings with Congress. The Senate’s job is to give advice and consent on nominations. Since Bush never seeks advice from Senate Democrats, there’s no reason for them to roll over and consent to Bush’s nominee just because he tells them to.

Senators like John McCain, Lindsey Graham and other former military officers oppose the use of water boarding for obvious reasons. Sometimes our soldiers are captured and we want them to be treated humanely. If we torture prisoners that we’ve captured on the battlefield, our enemies will do the same to our soldiers. We’ve already seen this in Iraq. The Senate needs to just say no.

torture, water boarding, Mukasey, Attorney General, Senate, Senator Leahy

Rudy Giuliani is a first rate fear monger. He sounds like a mob boss as he goes from one campaign stop to another warning us all about the dangers of another terrorist attack if we elect a Democratic president. He wants us to believe that only tough guy Republicans can protect us from all the dangerous “terrorists” around the world. The man has no class.

Rudy Giuliani likes to point out that Democrats don’t talk about the war on terror. Here are three words that Giuliani never mentions: Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden declared war on the United States. Bin Laden ordered the 9-11 attacks. Bin Laden sent Arabs from Saudi Arabia to hijack those airplanes which crashed into the twin towers. There were no Iraqis or Iranians among the 9-11 hijackers. But just as George Bush used the 9-11 attacks to justify the War in Iraq, Giuliani wants to use the 9-11 attacks as an excuse to invade Iran. That’s where the “War on Terror” propaganda comes in. Bush and Giuliani don’t want to acknowledge these basic facts:
1) Neither Iraq nor Iran has ever attacked the United States,
2) Neither Iraq nor Iran has ever posed a threat to the United States,
3) Osama Bin Laden is a Saudi currently residing in Afghanistan or Pakistan. He has never lived in Iraq or Iran.
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As usual, the Republicans have their talking points in order. All the usual suspects have been spreading the word that no attack on Iran is imminent. Well of course not. The timing is all wrong. The Bush administration won’t realize any political advantage from launching an invasion now. They’re holding their fire until after the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton for president. Then just prior to the Democratic convention, they’ll bomb Iran. That will put Hillary in a box. If she supports the bombing, it will hurt her with the base. If she condemns the attack, the Bushies will try to label her as weak on national defense. If she attempts to triangulate by saying Iran is a danger but the president should have sought permission beforehand, she’ll look indecisive. In this way the Bush crowd hopes to strike a mortal blow to their most hated enemies: the Democrats. So indeed, no attack on Iran is imminent. But it will be next summer.

There are several reasons to not bomb Iran. Here are a few:
1) Iran has never attacked the United States.
2) Iran poses no threat to the United States.
3) Iran has no nuclear weapon.
4) Iran has no long range missile with which to deliver a bomb to the United States.
Nevertheless, under the Bush doctrine of pre-emption, since Iran may one day pose a threat to the United States, the president has a right to order an attack as he sees fit.

Iran, Bush, bombing Iran, War, President Bush, Hillary Clinton

I love to watch Ron Paul shake up the Republican presidential campaign. He understands how far the Republican Party has strayed from conservative principles. Nothing exemplifies this more than the War in Iraq. Empire building isn’t compatible with smaller government. You can’t cut the cost of government while spending a trillion dollars in a foreign country. And if you refuse to raise taxes to pay for a decade long hot war, it means you’re saddling future generations with mountains of debt.

Apparently Ron Paul is the only Republican presidential candidate to have read Page 1 of the Constitution recently. As he pointed out to Mitt Romney in a recent debate, in our country Congress has the power to declare War. The current president seems to believe that he alone has the authority to launch oversees invasions and Congress is nothing more than a nuisance. Fortunately Ron Paul doesn’t see it this way. He isn’t running for King of the United States.
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The outpouring of support for the victims of the southern California firestorm makes me proud to be an American. Americans are extraordinarily generous when it comes to responding to emergencies, whether at home or abroad. I only wish that we would bring that same energy into preparing for catastrophes.

Many natural disasters are eminently predictable. The potential for massive flooding in New Orleans was well documented prior to hurricane Katrina. The fierce Santa Ana winds have blown through the canyons of southern California for centuries. We all know about the dangers, but we leave ourselves vulnerable anyway.

There is a planned community called Stevenson Ranch near Santa Clarita, California that always escapes the flames. These homes have survived unscathed again this year despite massive destruction of other structures in the area. It is a community that makes its own luck. The homes were built with fire resistant materials like concrete roofing and dual pane windows.
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California knows catastrophes. Preparing for emergencies is a way of life. Every year California has fires, earthquakes, floods and mudslides. We usually have several of these disasters a year. Right now, fires are ravaging southern California. But you won’t see a Hurricane Katrina style government response here. In California we plan for disasters and respond accordingly.

Thankfully, Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax reform cronies have almost no influence on California politics. Grover is the guy who believes that when it comes to public services, we need to “Starve the Beast”. By that he means that we should slash public revenue to such an extent that legislatures will be forced to shut down government programs altogether. This would allow private sector organizations to handle the services now provided by public employees. Does Blackwater ring a bell?

Right now employees of “the beast” are saving lives in Southern California. Thousands of firefighters from around the region have poured into the area to battle the intense firestorm. Public employees at the California Office of Emergency Services are coordinating their efforts. And publicly employed National Guard troops are protecting citizens displaced by the fires. If the American Idiots for Tax Reform had their way, this would all be managed by private groups. Can you imagine the local fire captain pulling up to your place to say I’ll need 50 grand before I even consider saving your house from that fire headed in your direction? Most of us would consider that extortion, not reform.
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You will normally find me discussing contemporary politics on this blog, but today I need to get something off my chest. I fear that excessive commercialization of Halloween has disguised the true meaning of this glorious holiday. Now I can get past the silly fake tombstones and spider webs on neighborhood lawns. I’ll even accept little kids dressed up as princesses and cowboys even though these outfits aren’t even scary. But I have to draw the line when it comes to these ridiculous “exotic” costume balls popping up all over the place this time of year. This is nothing more than a bunch of decadent suburbanites prancing around in skimpy fetish outfits as though Halloween was meant for fun. We’ve replaced horror with horny.

Long ago the Celts celebrated Samhain on the night before their November 1st New Year. They believed that on October 31st, the ghosts of the dead returned to earth in order to burn crops and cause other trouble. Later Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st All Saints Day and the night before became known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween. I suppose it’s good that saints have their own holiday. After all, they’ve performed miracles, inspired people and so forth. But how many of us will ever become saints? Isn’t it nice to know that there’s something for the rest of us when we die? Of course it’s not a full day, but an evening is better than nothing.

Halloween should be about re-animated dead people. When most people expire, they follow the light to the end of the tunnel and pass peacefully into the afterlife. But every once in a while, someone says: “Hell no. I’m staying right here in my earthly home to haunt my friends and family. And if someone else moves into this house, I’ll scare them too.” Imagine how boring life would be without a few wayward spirits. We need to show some respect for the neglected ghosts and goblins among us. Let’s make Halloween spooky again.

Halloween, spooky, scary, Samhain, All Saints Day, All Hallows Eve, dead people, ghosts, goblins, spirits, exotic balls, spirits, hauntings

When Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in the 2003 recall of Gray Davis, he advertised himself as a different kind of politician. He has been anything but. Instead he has proven himself to be very much like his irresponsible Republican counterparts in Washington. He loves to propose expensive new public programs, but doesn’t want to pay for them. He expects future generations of Californians to pick up the tab for his spending sprees. Leaders are honest about the cost of new roads, bridges, schools and water projects. Arnold Schwarzenegger is no leader.

California could seriously use some leadership when it comes to prison overcrowding. For decades California politicians have responded to rising crime rates by throwing more people in the slammer. Under the three strikes law, some convicts are serving life sentences for relatively minor offenses. Now a federal judge has appointed a judicial panel to consider capping the California prison population. That would lead to the early release of prisoners in order to relieve the overcrowding. In the meantime, juvenile delinquents get sent to out of state boot camps.

If California politicians would only look past the next election for once, they would see that a more proactive approach is desperately needed. Instead of treating juvenile delinquents as throwaways, they should be recognized for what they really are: at risk children in need of life skills training. If these kids don’t receive the meaningful help they need to turn their lives around, they are virtually guaranteed to spend most of their adulthood behind bars. We’ve got enough convicts in California prisons already.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, prison, California prison crisis, prison overcrowding, leadership, juvenile delinquency, boot camp, violent crime, crime prevention

In the past 20 years or so it has become fashionable for states to send their juvenile delinquents to “boot camps” on the other side of the country. The idiocy of this policy is only now becoming apparent. These faux boot camps treat incarcerated children preparing for life as though they were young adults volunteering for war. When the kids fail to do as their told, they get yelled at, roughed up and occasionally, beaten to death.

The decision to send juveniles to boot camp like settings is based on a faulty premise. At real boot camps, recruits receive training in how to become soldiers. They learn to use firearms and carry heavy munitions through hostile terrain. Soldiers need these skills before they ship out to war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, where they will be asked to hunt down and kill people. That’s what war is all about.

These skills won’t help juvenile delinquents. At risk kids don’t need to carry around 60 pound packs or shoot someone from a distance of a hundred yards. These kids need life skills. They need to know how to keep their cool in stressful situations. They need to learn how to handle bad news without resorting to violence. And they need to know how to maintain gainful employment so that they can make a decent life for themselves. You can’t teach youngsters these lessons through physical or verbal abuse.

When children are confronted by a physically imposing drill sergeant, they will be intimidated. But those kids will grow up one day. Then they will intimidate others. That’s what they learn from life in “boot camp”. Do we really want a bunch of mini-warriors on our streets?

juvenile delinquency, boot camp, war, violent crime, get tough, crime prevention, prison

Dr. Phil gets it. He deals with dysfunctional families often on his show, and is especially critical of bullying men. Let’s face it. Men are usually the perpetrators of domestic abuse. Dr. Phil deals with the problem directly in what he calls “man camp”. The guys who show up for man camp know they need help. And rather than assigning blame, Dr. Phil gives them the straightforward advice they need to stay cool in stressful situations. It can be as simple as getting up and walking away for a few minutes when the temperature starts to rise.

We all take classes in high school that have little practical value for us in the real world. How many people really need to understand trigonometry? Many adults on the other hand, engage in parenting every day. But parenting class is not typically a part of the high school curriculum. It should be.

Parents may not realize how spongy kids are. They learn about what it means to be an adult by observing the behavior of the adults in their life. If parents scream obscenities at each other every day, then kids will learn that this is how adults normally resolve their differences. Some parents constantly belittle their children and as a result those kids come to believe that they are indeed fat, lazy and stupid. And when parents physically assault each other, kids learn from that too. That’s why domestic abuse is so dangerous. It’s a toxic lifestyle that gets passed down from one generation to the next.

violent crime, domestic violence, domestic abuse, crime prevention, Dr. Phil, man camp, abused children

Our political system in America encourages superficial solutions to complex problems. Politicians looking to get re-elected every two to four years need catchy slogans that have an immediate visceral appeal to easily distracted voters. When it comes to violent crime, “get tough” is the slogan. Everyone immediately knows that this means long prison sentences or death for the predators we hear about every night on TV. Anyone proposing an alternative solution is derisively called a “bleeding heart liberal.” We should ignore the political posturing for once and focus on the most effective way of dealing with the problem.

It is survival of the toughest in American penitentiaries. Finishing a sentence and walking out of prison is like graduating from crime school. After convicts spend a few years in the system, they harden into lean, mean, tattooed fighting machines. These people have plunged head first into a life of crime and for the vast majority of them, there’s no turning back. That’s why we need to aggressively intervene in the lives of at risk children before they turn to violent crime as a way of life.

When a man comes home at night and punches his wife, he’s teaching his children that it is OK for a man to physically assault his wife. When a woman threatens her husband with a weapon, she’s teaching her children that it’s all right for a woman to threaten her husband while brandishing a weapon. Parents who do these things are raising monsters. They have no right to teach their children these lessons. Children raised with abuse grow up to be abusive as adults. A strong public campaign to end domestic violence will go a long ways toward ending violent crime in general.

Here are links to organizations working to protect at risk children: International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Stand Up for Kids, Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute and The Safe Side.

violent crime, domestic violence, domestic abuse, get tough, crime prevention, prison, recidivism, abused children

For more than two decades, small minded politicians have touted “get tough” policies to deal with the problem of violent crime in America. These policies have been a dismal failure. Not only has getting tough not made our communities safer, according to the FBI, violent crime actually increased in 2006. This increase shows that “get tough” was never anything more than a political slogan. America deserves a crime prevention program based on an objective analysis of potential solutions.

In California, the government spends more on prisons than it does on public universities. This emphasis on incarceration places a tremendous financial burden on taxpayers. First we hire the police officers that track down suspects. Then we hire attorneys, judges and juries to try criminal cases. Finally we pick up the bill for all the costs of confinement in our burgeoning prison system. While in prison, convicts do not pay taxes or contribute to the support of their families. Victims often require assistance as well. And when convicts get released, they typically return immediately to a life of crime.

American crime prevention programs cling to the outdated notion that tough punishment for criminals will deter potential lawbreakers from acting on their evil impulses. Unfortunately criminal violence often emerges from circumstances of anger or intoxication. Deterrence has little effect on people who are inebriated, emotionally unhinged, suicidal or mentally impaired. Some people are dangerous because they react to every stressful situation with violence. Physical confrontation is a way of life.

A more proactive approach is needed. Focusing on eliminating domestic violence would be a good start. Kids learn from their parents. Parents who resolve their disputes by physically assaulting each other are teaching this behavior to their children. And the cycle of violence repeats itself in the next generation.

crime, domestic violence, get tough, crime prevention, criminal justice

Laura Bush has been pretty rough on the Burmese military junta recently. She threatened additional sanctions if things don’t improve there in the next couple of days. She has also called for the removal of Burmese General Than Shwe and his regime. You go girl. I rather hoped that her husband would have more to say about the pro-democracy Saffron Revolution. Maybe Mr. Bush could go back to New Orleans and make another speech from Jackson Square. He could throw a saffron robe over the statue of Andrew Jackson. It would make a great photo-op. Oh well, I guess as Americans we have to take leadership wherever we can get it.

Perhaps Laura is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton. She may be looking to enhance her foreign policy credentials in anticipation of a run for the US Senate. Then she could run for president in 2016. We should all be sick of Hillary by then. We’ll be longing for the good ol’ days, but Jen and Barbara won’t be ready yet. Someone will need to maintain the Clinton/Bush dynasty. When Laura’s done she can hand the keys to the kingdom over to Chelsea.

It’s more likely that George Bush just doesn’t care much about Burma. The CEO of Exxon probably told him that it would take too long to get enough oil wells built there before he’d see a solid return on his investment. Besides, the whole mess is a distraction from the President’s battle against his true sworn enemy, the Democratic Party, or the Democrat Party as he likes to call them. Mr. Bush is likely in the midst of scheduling a massive terrorism alert around the time of next summer’s Democratic convention, or should I say the Democrat convention.

Of course the ever vigilant Congress has certainly done its part to recognize the plight of repressed people around the world. This week they introduced a resolution condemning the genocide of Armenians… in 1915. The Burmese generals must be shaking in their boots over the likelihood that 92 years from now the US Congress will pass a non-binding resolution scolding them. What’s next, a resolution condemning the Thuggees of 19th century India? At least that would be the correct continent, and, after all, those Thuggees were seriously nasty people.

Burma, Myanmar, Burmese military, democracy, Burmese revolution, Laura Bush, Burmese junta, General Than Shwe, Congress, Democrats, Thuggees

One thing is certain about the Saffron Revolution. The word is out. The terrorist Burmese generals don’t want the world to know about their brutal repression of freedom loving citizens in their country. But hard as they may try, they can’t stop the flood of information flowing from their country. I have previously listed a number of organizations covering the massacre of innocent civilians in Burma. The whole world knows about this historical uprising.

Words matter, but nothing tells a story like a photograph. Some of the pictures coming out of Burma are difficult to look at, but one particularly haunting photo says it all. Here is a link to a dead Buddhist monk floating in the water. Indeed the Burmese military are beating monks to death and dumping their bodies in the river. Their savagery knows no bounds.

The Burmese junta leaders have offered to have a “liaison” meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, the rightful leader of Burma. This is a pathetic stalling tactic, hardly worth mentioning. The Burmese generals should be on trial for murder. They are not people to be bargained with. It’s disappointing to realize that the current leaders of the free world are far too timid and disorganized to drive these villains from power.

Lately Laura Bush has been speaking out about the massacre in Burma. Good for her. But as I read her bold statements I can’t help but experience cognitive dissonance. Would Franklin Roosevelt have sent Eleanor to meet with Churchill and Stalin in Yalta? If President Bush is too busy, then where is our Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice? We’re living in strange times.

Burma, Myanmar, Burmese military, democracy, Saffron Revolution, Buddhist monks, terrorism, Laura Bush