Michael Vick - fascist?

Another good Zirin article:

Such a writer is Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post. On Thursday she wrote, "If an animal didn't perform well enough, if it wasn't champion enough, if it was in Vick's judgment flawed, he strangled it, drowned it, electrocuted it or beat it to death on the ground. Vick and his pals deliberately enslaved and tormented weaker creatures, and killed those they considered inferior. The dogs had faces and voices that would have eloquently expressed their agony, and Vick hurt them anyway, repeatedly. The crimes may have been committed against canines, but at issue is basic humanity. Commit those crimes against people, and the words we'd use for it are fascism, and genocide. Don't kid yourself: The people who are so angry at Vick are angry for all the right reasons."

If it had run in the Onion, I wouldn't have blinked. But this is the Washington Post, an esteemed paper of record. And this is Sally Jenkins. First, the contention, repeated everywhere as if fact, that Vick "strangled, drowned, electrocuted or beat dogs to death" was in the indictment, not the guilty plea. In other words, it remains an unproven accusation. If anything, Vick pleaded guilty because all of his friends pled deals when it became clear that the federal government wanted – as they always do – to land the big celebrity catch. The same justice department that says of Barry Bonds, "He's our Al Capone" wanted Vick. That's the headline. That's what keeps their budgets fat.

BarCamp / BarCampBlock / Palo Alto / 2007

Just checked out BarCamp / BarCampBlock. It's just down the street (literally) from my crib.

Was a good scene. Lots of people where I went - the main hub - at SocialText. There are four or five other satellite-type locations/offices on the surrounding blocks.

Talked with a Yahoo - dominated the foos table - then split.

Didn't hurt that it was another picture perfect day in sunny Palo Alto, CA.

Oh - and the Yahoo had a damn Polaroid. Very cool. Pic came out good, too. He scans them later and uploads them to Flickr. Pretty dope. I need a digital Polaroid. Wonder if they make 'em?

US terror interrogation went too far, experts say

You don't say?

Miami - Jose Padilla had no history of mental illness when President Bush ordered him detained in 2002 as a suspected Al Qaeda operative. But he does now.

Well, it's yet another beautiful day in sunny Palo Alto, California, and I'm about to go out and enjoy it. And I'll be thinking about how to stop a lawless government from psychologically torturing (at least) innocent U.S. citizens until they become batshit crazy. And I'll be feeling guilty about not having done enough to stop it.

This is fucked up.

StreetFilms: S.F. Giants Valet Bike Parking

Pretty cool.

Bark Blog: Time to Bunny-Up

Bark Blog: Time to Bunny-Up:

They are currently the third most euthanized pet in this country. If bunnies had the same organized outreach as cats and dogs, this wouldn’t happen. So let’s join forces. Best Friends Animal Society is circulating a petition in protest. Brambley Hedge Rabbit Rescue has suspended rabbit adoptions with PetSmart and initiated a boycott. The Rabbit House Society is more circumspect, calling on the chain to change course and inviting supporters to politely express their displeasure.

This is important for a few reasons, but one I'd like to emphasize is that organizations are working together. Here, a dog magazine/blog is jumping in to help publicize a non-dog issue. Granted, it's not a big stretch since it's all animal rights, but this is the type of thing we need to be doing at all activist organizations - organizations with different stated goals need to be in better communication - by supporting each other directly and indirectly, they can become bigger power centers, forcing corporations and the government to respond.

...added links.

Once

That was a great #*##*#*#*# movie.

Grand. Brilliant. All the rest.

As per usual, I highly recommend not watching the previews.

...not watching the previews/trailers allows you to sit through the movie and wonder, "What the heck does 'Once' mean, anyways?". Spoiler tagline: How often do you find the right person?

Tillman murdered?

Thought I posted about this recently, but I couldn't find it. Damn blogger. Found an old post, but its source article, here, is disappeared. That's not completely abnormal for little newspaper sites, but still - it's a pretty important story - or, at least, speculation.

So, TPM has some new facts.

And now Wonkette, of all blogs, is saying some stuff I hadn't heard before. They say, for instance, that the reason Tillman was going to meet with (one of my personal heroes) Chomsky was to find out exactly how he should come out against the war when he got back to the U.S. I knew about the planned meeting, but I just figured it was going to be a chit chat about whatever.

And I firmly believe, now, if I didn't already, that he was murdered by his own unit. I mean, shit - his unit burned his armor - wtf? There's only one good reason to burn shit - to remove your tracks.

The Pentagon covered it up.

All sorts of military personnel in the field covered it up - a retired General recently being reprimanded.

Military doctors doubted from the very beginning the story they were fed.

Three close-range bullet holes in the forehead after he was already wounded several times?

That was some Mafia/Gestapo/Nazi-style shit - an out and out execution.

I'm sure someone's going to ask Chomsky what he thinks of all this - someone always does. Chomsky will handle it with care, of course, but I suspect he won't give people what they're looking for - he won't do our thinking for us. He'll say something to the effect that 'anything is possible', but won't go towards 'plausible' and he'll refrain from saying too much about it at all, and then he'll reinforce his core message to all of us - get together and get active - build mass popular movements and force the government and corporations to repond to our demands.