Something's Missing

Topic: Iraq
WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE YOU WILL SEE IMAGES OF TSUNAMI VICTIMS, NOT VICTIMS OF A BOMBING AT A WEDDING AND NOT PICTURES OF PRIVATE CONTRACTORS CAUGHT IN A BAD PLACE AND NOT BEHEADING VICTIMS. YOU WILL NOT SEE VICTIMS OF HUMAN AGGRESSION, ONLY VICTIMS OF A NATURAL DISASTER.

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Something has struck me with all the coverage of the tsunami victims. Something's been missing in my life and I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I watched the images of the victims on the television and all over the Internet. Bodies. Dead bodies.

I've realized that I don't really get to see too many dead bodies in the news. Sure I see them, lots of them, when I watch a Bruce Willis movie but when I turn on the network or cable news I almost never see them. I don't really count the bodies 200 yards behind a big policeman with a white sheet over it. I mean the rotting, decaying, damaged, thrown in a hole, kinda dead bodies. That's what I've been missing in my life and I think I need lots more of 'em. In fact, here's some that I found over at Fox, CBS, MS-NBC, and CNN:








Isn't viewing human misery, as caused by natural disasters, moving? I wonder if those schmucks over at those so-called news companies know that there were 100,000 people who've been killed due to war just recently and I have not seen 1, NOT 1, dead body. Not 1 child with their face blown off, not 1 mother with her skin melted to the bone, not 1 grandfather blown to pieces and not 1 father shot in the back trying to shield his children from depleted uranium shells. I do remember seeing what may have been the bodies of some private contractors being dragged through the streets of Fallujah but those were ambigious bodies at best and the way that the news edited it really obscured what would have generated some "shock and awe". I just feel that I'm really missing the full picture here.

Pun intended.

Free From Fear

Topic: Satire
You know I'm sure it's just coincidental but I was wondering when we were going to hear something about the terrorists after the election. We had Thanksgiving, Christmas and we are now upon New Years and I haven't heard one report of a terrorists threat. I distinctly remember the holidays last year and there were multiple threats about us being attacked and the newest threat was in England. I read newspapers, watch cable network news and read multiple independent news sources every single day, all day, and I haven't heard a single threat against the motherland. I also remember the commander-in-chief (chuckle) continually reminding us of the ever-present threat we faced and how it wasn't going to go away.

Maybe the threat that we face today is equal to what it was last holiday or equal to the threat we faced the day before 9/11. Is the terrorist threat gone or is communicating unsubstantiated threats no longer politically advantageous?

Have a free from fear Happy New Year.

Another Missed Oppurtunity

Topic: State Of The Union
Can it be possible that the Bush administration can fail so miserably at so many things? When faced with an incredible opportunity to show the world that the government of the United States stands with people from all walks of life, no matter what self-interest they may or may not have to the U.S., the Bush administration pledges $35 million dollars for a 4000 mile disaster effecting 12 different countries, killing over 100,000 people, displacing or making millions homeless in areas of the world that are among the poorest.

How short the Bush administration's memory is. In October they provided $2,092,800,000 ($2 billion) for those affected by the hurricanes in Florida. Florida had 1,052,000 applications for aid, 124 people dead from 4 storms in a state with a population of 16,000,000 people. Let's have some fun with numbers and figure out just how much aid the Bush administration would provide for these 12 countries affected by tsunami if they had a couple of million registered Republican voters in an election year or if these countries had oil underneath their soil.

If these 12 nations were in fact a state and the Floridian formula of providing $16,877,419.00 per death were multiplied by the 100,000 that have died from the Tsunamis, then the federal government would provide $1,687,741,900,000 (yeah, that is over 1 and a half trillion dollars). If the formula was based upon total numbers of people effected and if that number was conservatively estimated at say 100 million in these 12 countries, using the same Floridian formula of providing $1989 per application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), that would yield assistance in the amount of $198,000,000 or approximately $2 billion less than what was allocated to fight an illegal and unjustifiable war in Iraq. Ironic isn't it?

Is the American government the number one provider of support to nations around the world? You bet they are, but the fact is that much of that aid goes to support corporate interests in moderate income nations. In fact, Israel, not exactly a starving nation, represents approximately 13% of total aid provided to all countries. Fortunately for the citizens of this country the perception of us as benevolent by the people of other nations is separated from their perception of our government as malevolent. Let's hope that in this disaster the power of the good inherent in the American people compensates for the inadequacies of our government, specifically within the Bush administration.



Bush Won't Disturb His Vacation For Human Disasters

War On Tolerance

Topic: State Of The Union
Below, The Indy Voice has layed out some statistics for your perusal. Draw your own conclusions but let me just say that if you want to re-direct the energy and attention of the arguments that we should be having in this country, here is one of the places that liberals can start.

* The US accounts for just 5 percent of the global population, 25 percent of the world's prisoners are in American prisons and jails.

* The U.S. has both the largest prison population and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, including China and Russia.

* The U.S. incarcerates people at a rate more than 15 times that of Japan, and its prison population is more than eight times that of Italy, France, the UK, Spain, and Australia combined.

* "The United States now imprisons more people than any other country in the world - perhaps half a million more than Communist China."
Atlantic Monthly "The Prison-Industrial Complex," December 1998

* America's 1.2 million nonviolent prisoners is five times the number of people held in India's entire prison system, even though India is a country with roughly four times our population.

* The vast majority of countries have abandoned capital punishment, the US has carried out more than 700 executions over the last quarter-century.

* A recent report from the University of Michigan estimated the number of innocent persons in prison for all offenses to likely number in the thousands.

Effects On Voting

* There are nearly four million persons currently or permanently disenfranchised as a result of laws that take away the voting rights of felons and ex-felons.

* No other democracy besides the US. disenfranchises convicted offenders for life. Many democratic nations, including Denmark, France, Israel and Poland, permit prisoners to vote as well.

* Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the disenfranchised are not in prison but are on probation, on parole or have completed their sentences.

* 1.4 million African American men -- 13 percent of the adult African American male population -- have lost the right to-vote, a rate of disenfranchisement that is seven times the national average. By comparison, in the 1996 general election 4.6 million African American men voted.

* In Florida one in three African American men has permanently lost the right to vote.

* In five states lowa, Mississippi, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wyoming one in four black men (24% to 28%) have permanently lost the right to vote.

Effects On The Labor Market

* "Our incarceration rate plays such a distorting role in the labor market, one study found that the U.S. unemployment rate would be 2% higher if prisoners and jail inmates were counted."
-- Justice Policy Institute "The Punishing Decade," December 1999

Defining Criminality

* "Working class addiction to crack (cocaine) is a crime. But, middle- and upper-class addiction to drugs or alcohol is a disease. "
Sabina Virgo - Criminal Injustice

Disgusting Stats

From an article on U.S. Prisons

* America's nonviolent prisoner population is three times the prisoner populations of all of the countries in the European Union.

* Over the past 20 years, the nonviolent prisoner population has increased at a rate much faster than the violent prisoner population, and that 77% of the people entering prisons and jails were sentenced for nonviolent offenses.

* America is spending more building prisons ($2.6 billion) than universities ($2.5 billion). Overall, the combined expenditures for America's prisons and jails has increased from $5 billion in 1978 to $31 billion in 1997.

i.e. "From 1984 to 1994, built 21 prisons, and only one state university...the prison system realized a 209% increase in funding, compared to a 15% increase in state university funding."
The Justice Policy Institute (1996)

*** The $24 billion spent last year by federal, state and local units of government to incarcerate 1.2 million nonviolent offenders was almost 50% larger than the entire federal welfare budget ($16.6 billion) which provides income supports for 8.5 million people, and represents six times what the federal government will spend on child care for 1.25 million children. ***

There are approximately 8.75 million people that are presently incarcerated throughout the entire world...

As of today, there are an estimated people in U.S. prisons and jails.
(Source: Prisonsucks.com: Research on the crime control industry.)

It's A Big World

Topic: Misc.

I gotta tell you that today I'm rather pissed off. I am in the process of finishing Bill Bryson's Notes From A Big Country and nothing could be more appropriate and dismally sad than what I've witnessed today. If you are still not aware (because you live in a completely nationalistic and small minded country) 8600 people died today in one fell-swoop in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. Yes, that number is not a typo, 8600 (eight-thousand, six-hundred) people are dead today from a massive earthquake that triggered tidal waves. Who cares? It's not like they're white or American? (Not that we would care if they weren't white AND American)

Just to clarify, it is just 5 days from 2005. September 11th, 2001 was close to 4 years ago. You cannot turn on any program anywhere within the United States and not hear a reference to this tragic day. ("Never Forget", they won't let you forget). The official body count for that day was 2948 and we haven't heard the end of it, nor is there an end in sight.

I turn on the computer today to find BBC reporting that thousands have died. Not thinking, I turned on CNN followed by MSNBC and then FOX News and I wasn't even shocked to find that not one of these so-called "news" stations wasn't even reporting the fact that 8600 people have died in a calamitous natural disaster. The reason why I wasn't shocked is because this has happened many times before. The last major time it happened was when 30,000 (yes that is thirty-thousand) people died in Bam, Iran from an earthquake. It may be if "it bleeds it leads" but it should be added "only if those bleeding are located in the continental United States" but that's not that as cool sounding.

I want you to think about 8600 PEOPLE. 8600 people is 5652 more people than died on 9/11, 8432 more peoople than died in the Oklahoma city bombing and 8599 more than when Ronald Reagan died and I think coverage of his funeral is still running. What the hell is wrong with this country that we don't recognize that there is an entire world outside our borders? In fact, a large majority of the worlds population is not in this country.

8600 people died today in a horrible event and your news services are reporting blurbs of it followed by news about Paris Hilton. There is something wrong with this. The reporting of the events of 9/11 continue 4 years after they happened and ONLY 2948 people were killed. Today 8600 people died and it's small blurb that will probably remain that way for maybe a week.

Anyway, I have to go, CNN is discussing a topic that could quite possibly destroy our entire way of life, same-sex marriage.

Did I mention that 8600 people died today?

P.S. In writing this little diddy and performing a spell check (which I obviously rarely do) apparently the spell-checker software is also nationalistic and small minded. The spell checker reported that I had spelled the "Sri" and "Lanka" parts of "Sri Lanka" but that I had also mispelled MSNBC which should be MS NBC. There is definitely something wrong here.

Follow The Leader

Topic: Misc.
To lead people, walk beside them ...
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
"We did it ourselves!"
- Lao-Tzu

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I've just about had it with all the talk surrounding this past election. Look, I'm sorry that people were disenfranchised in Ohio but concentrating on and putting so many resources into the problems there is like the Republican perpetuated myth of people cheating the welfare system. Do people steal from the welfare system? You bet they do, but directors of corporations have stolen a hell of lot of money from people and no one is calling for the dissolution of the corporation. The welfare system effects you financially less than 1 flush of your toilet bowl per year and that's about the same effect that the "irregularities" in Ohio have had on the overall election.

The election is over. The person you voted for lost. Republicans did cheat, that's what they do and they do it well. They are the party of the belief that the means justify the ends. That's just another fact of life that your gonna have to get over. Suit up and get back on your pony because now we're going to battle and it's not just in Ohio. You can either mount up and move on or become what the conservatives have been calling you: "vacillating" or in the language of the common man "pussies".

The first step in the process of "mounting up" for battle is too be honest with yourself. Look inside, find the shortcomings and work towards remediating them. I have and what I've found I don't like. Honestly, John Kerry was not my first choice for a Presidential candidate. For me, he was a compromise that I'm never going to make again. I don't doubt for one second that John Kerry is a good man but he received my vote because I thought him to be the most elect-able alternative to Bush. That will not happen again.

Forget all that you think you know about this past election. It's all bullshit. Come on, do you really think that morals aren't a factor in elections? Who says to them self "you know this candidate of ours is just so morally deficient but I don't care, I'm going to vote for him anyway because he's going to get the much needed tax code reform passed"? Morals are always a factor in elections and yes they are tied in most people's minds to their religious beliefs. Big surprise there, huh? People don't vote for leaders strictly for their moral positions or their ideas, they vote for the person. Do you want to know what George W. Bush offers people that John Kerry doesn't? CERTAINTY. Yes, you heard right.

For most of you reading this you are going to have a hard time believing what follows. George W. Bush has vision, he has morals, he's decisive and strong and while you may not agree with everything he has to say, you should know that when he's faced with a problem and because he embodies these characteristics, he won't back down and he's going to do the right thing. No, The Indy Voice has not lost all his marbles. This is what people believe. These characteristics are the reason why George W. Bush won the election and they are shared by all leaders.

Look it doesn't matter what YOU think the reality of the personal characteristic qualities of Bush are. The reality for 61,000,000 people is that they PERCEIVE it to be reality. The real story of this election, that has yet to be told, is that it was decided SOLELY based upon the perceived qualities of leadership. Plain and simply, the majority judged Bush as being a more capable leader. That doesn't mean he is a capable leader, strong, decisive or moral. It just means that people perceive him that way.

Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Hussein, Qaddafi, Khan, Il, and Mao Zedong are all extremists that had the backing of the people. They were not moral people. They gained their power to rule from the consent of those that they were ruling. Any of these people could have been stopped at any stage on their rise to power by the opposition of the people. People followed them because they lead. You cannot run an opposition party and expect it to be successful by just opposing, line by line or issue for issue, what the other party's guy is pushing. You need to give people something to believe in. They don't have to agree with everything your saying and in the case of those above, the message doesn't even have to be one of sanity, but people need to believe that you have some kind of grand vision or direction.

The Democratic Party lost not because it went too far left but because it failed to go far enough. There is no certainty in the middle. Leaders aren't borne of compromise. George W. Bush doesn't try to hide the fact that he is a conservative Republican. Kerry tried to run from the label of "liberal". Bush wasn't elected because he has compromised or moved to the middle. In fact people voted for him because he wouldn't compromise.

People that voted for Bush believed he has vision. 61,000,000 people didn't vote for John Kerry because they perceived, accurately or not, that he had no direction. It wasn't November 2nd when John Kerry lost the election. It was when Kerry allowed commercials to paint him as a flip-flopper that the fight was lost. The made up lies of the Swift Boat Veterans had nothing to do with it. A well-run campaign headed by a resolute leader would have looked at that incident as an opportunity to show the ferocity and strength of a decorated combat veteran. The Kerry campaign hoped it would just go away. Leaders stand up for what they believe in, for what is right, and they are willing to indefinitely fight for what moves them. This is how you get people to walk beside you. Kerry didn't embody the characteristics of a leader and the only reason why he came as close as he did to the Presidency was because he was opposing the worst President in the history of the United States. But then again, that's just my perception.

22 More Reasons

Topic: Iraq

22 More People Die Needlessly For A Failed Policy Based On Lies, Ignorance, Incompetence, Mediocrity And Hubris

You know what I want for Christmas?

Americans to wake up.

Merry Christmas.

Origins Of Christmas

Jeremiah 10:2-4: "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."

This is the original pre-emptive strike at the ignorance that may spew from the unending faucet of misinformation such as those self-important ding-a-lings like Bill O'Reilly, et al.

Christmas is not under attack by liberals, it's under attack by those trying to force it into the halls of government and commerce with disinformation and ignorance. (And by the way O'Reilly, Jesus wasn't a philosopher.) Additionally, there is so much misinformation and incomplete understanding of the origins of Christmas and it's traditions that The Indy Voice believes that it requires some clarification.

Christmas, which is the modern term which comes to us from the late Olde English cristes masse, or "Christ's mass", is celebrated all over the world by both Christians and non-Christians. It is usually celebrated on December 25th, but some celebrate it on January 7th. Some people, such as fundamentalists Christians, believe that Christmas should be celebrated without the heathen accompaniments, such as a tree decorated with lights. Some devout Christians DO NOT celebrate "Christmas".

In ancient Babylon "The Feast of Isis" was celebrated on December 25th and it involved partying, feasting and gift giving; this is more than just a coincedence. Additionally, the Christmas tree tradition, originally called "Paradeisbaum" or paradise trees, dates back to Western Germany in the 16th century. Trees were brought into homes to celebrate the annual "Feast of Adam and Eve" on December 24th. The Christmas tree tradition was brought to America in the 1700's by German citizens but it did not become popular until the 1850's when President Franklin Pierce arranged to have the first Christmas tree in the White House. It was not until 1923 that President Calvin Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the White House lawn. This ceremony doesn't break the wall of separation between church and state because the act of lighting a "Christmas tree" is entirely pagan in nature even though those doing the lighting are most likely unaware of this.

The Christmas holiday is under attack by the likes of Macy's, not because they will no longer wish their customers a "Merry Christmas" but because they have infiltrated this religious holiday by convincing people that they MUST exchange goods as a show of faith. There is nothing anywhere in the bible that calls for this, yet many secular and non-secular Christians and non-Christians believe that gift-giving is a Christmas imperative. The fact is that all of the Christmas traditions including the Christmas tree, the Christmas ham, the Yule Log, holly, mistletoe, Santa Claus and the giving of presents come directly from pagan traditions.

As to the artificial problem of wishing people a "Merry Christmas" after a purchase of goods, this stems from the belief that "Christ is the reason for the season". He's not. Man is the reason for the season. December 25th (or January 7th) and all the things that go along with the modern day, pagan adopted and man-made traditions, are the reason for the season. In addition to Christmas, Ramadan, Chanukah and Kwanzaa are all being celebrated around the same time this season. Should merchants qualify their customers religious beliefs to make sure that they don't offend? Should merchants wish Jews a Yummy Yom Kippur on the 10th day of Tishri, the Babis a Happy New Year on March 21st, the Jains a Merry Mahavira-mas on April 3rd, and Buddhist a dazzling Dharma day on August 31st? What about the dozens and dozens of holidays, from the dozens of different religions that are celebrated by citizens of this country all year long? How do we address them? Should they be offended when their religious holiday isn't acknowledged by the local purveyor of gifts?(Index of Major Religious Holidays)

Understanding the secular and non-secular origins of Christmas and its relationship to government should make it clear that Christmas should NEVER be entangled with government and self-serving corporations (and TV show commentators). Both are equally capable of destroying a perfectly good religious celebration.

Book Review: Where The Right Went Wrong

Topic: Misc.
I have just finished the book "Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency" by Patrick J. Buchanan, and I must say that every person who calls them self a "conservative" needs to read this book. While Buchanan is certainly a flawed man with many a flawed philosophy (the nature of being human), such as the widely held conservative belief about "activist" judges, states rights, civil rights, Reagan worship, and governmental intervention inspired by one form of Christianity in the lives of citizens, especially abortion and homosexuality, his thoughts on the Bush presidency, Iraq, illegal immigration, free markets, China and Israel raise interesting points.

Now you may be asking yourself at this point why a self-confessed liberal would 1- be reading a book by Pat Buchanan a self-confessed conservative, and 2- agree with anything he has to say. My answer to you is that if you are asking the question you are a not a liberal and don't understand the makeup of a liberal. Liberals are broad-minded people who seek the truth wherever it may lie and without regard for the messenger. It is only the message that concerns a true liberal. If you understand this then you are a lot closer to being liberal then you previously thought. But I digress.

There are flashes of brilliance in Buchanan's book. There are moments of lucidity that aren't clouded with dogma or preconceived unwise conventional conservative wisdom, that are at times lost by extremely close-minded and not well thought out propositions. What comes across loud and clear continually throughout the book is, what this writer has been self-aware about continually being guilty of: condemning those with different viewpoints as indifferent and heartless people who do not care for the ideals and values that this country was founded upon. However, it is clear that these aspersions are completely wrong characterizations of people who truly care about others and their country and all of us should never forget this (that doesn't mean that we can't make fun of one another!).

The most important and prophetic thoughts contained within this book are those concerning neoconservatives. Buchanan describes the reality of the battle that is taking place for the heart of the Republican party and how that battle can possibly lead to the destruction of the United States of America as we know it. As many of you reading this are already aware, it's happening as we speak. Anyone calling them self a republican, a conservative, or anyone just wanting to understand how important the outcome of this war within the party is for the soul of America should read this book.

Lie Girls, Sugar Mommies And Irony

Topic: Hopefully Humorous
I cant' take credit for finding this hysterical website. Whilst perusing Quantam Moronics, which is a interesting blog run by a cool guy name Barry, I came across this link: Lie Girls.

On a more serious note The Indy Voice has reached the epitome of blog greatness on Google. Apparently anyone searching for "Sites for Sugar Mommies in Nigeria" finds us listed as the 4th most important resource on the topic, take a look: Google: "Sites For Sugar Mommies In Nigeria". I just hope they're liberal sugar mommies.

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I was (unfortunately, sometimes it just happens) watching some coverage of the Scott Peterson trial and a woman who apparently doesn't understand irony was speaking about the death sentence. She said something like "this verdict will send a message to everyone in the United States that this type of thing will not be tolerated". I thought that was just about one of the funniest things I've ever heard. State law in California doesn't apply to anyone but those people living in California, so if you live in Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin you wouldn't be "deterred" by this decision if you were so inclined to kill your wife because these states do not have the death penalty. But the irony of her statement was that she was commenting about a man receiving the death penalty for killing his wife in a state where the law already existed and if he was convicted, which we all know he was, he would be sentenced to die at the hands of the state. Ironically, the death penalty wasn't a deterrent.

In case you can't read it, it says:

Modern Folktales

The Capital Punishment Fairy

...WITH JUST A WAVE OF THE CYANIDE WAND JUSTICE IS SERVED, THE WRONGED ARE MADE WHOLE, EVILDOERS THROUGHOUT THE LAND TAKE HEED AND VILLAINY CEASES!

... WITH JUST A WAVE OF THE CYANIDE WAND A LIFE IS TAKEN IN ORDER TO TEACH US THAT NO LIFE MUST EVER BE TAKEN!

... WITH JUST A WAVE OF THE CYANIDE WAND WE ARE ABSOLVED OF THE DEED DONE IN THE NAME OF US ALL!

...IT'S MAGIC!