Ode to Ken Blackwell's Smile

Browsing You Tube I came across this mocked up video from the September gubentatorial debate that took place in Youngstown between Ken Blackwell and Ted Strickland. Funny stuff.

Stuff From Around

1. I know this is news to no one, but Rush Limbaugh really is a jackass. Normally his Republican cheerleading can be easily ignored because his straw man arguments are two dimensional; 1) everything is the fault of liberals and 2) even if a Republican office holder does something criminal, the only reason a big deal is being made is because of the media. What he said last week about Michael J. Fox exaggerating the effects of his Parkinson's disease in a campaign ad is just ludicrous. See the video here and read about the incident here.
   
2. Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's Countdown, takes President Bush to task for signing the despicable Military Commissions Act of 2006. This special commentary tackles the vexing question of how much of our freedom we should give up in order to feel safe. The answer, of course, is none. This eloquent commentary puts into words what is so easily seen by those who will walk into voting booths on November 7 and begin pushing Republicans from office.
   
3. Top secret nuclear data was found in a meth lab last week. No, really. Someone traded it for drugs. That's a "crack" team we've got working on the world's most deadly weapons.
4. Frank Miller's graphic novel 300 is being made into a film. See the trailer here. The story follows the Battle of Thermopylae as the Spartans, led by King Leonidas, defend Greece from the Persians led by Xerxes. Of course, what makes this story so captivating is that 300 Spartans hold off 200,000 Persians, killing more than 20,000 of them. The movie will contain dialogue like, "Their arrows will blot out the sun!" To which Leonidas relpies, "So much the better, we shall fight in the shade". Given how well Frank Miller's Sin City Graphic Novels were adapted to film in the movie of the same name, I'll bet dollars to donuts that this film is fantastic.
   
5. Elmo doll used to smuggle drugs. Tickle me indeed.
   

New T-Shirts!

Yes, it's time for even more shameless self promotion. Click here to purchase any of the shirts you see pictured below.

Also, grab a Y-Town oval sticker and show off your Steel Valley pride!

Why You Should Fear The Military Commissions Act of 2006

Article one, section nine of the United States Constitution:

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

The writ of habeas corpus is a legal proceeding in which an individual held in custody can challenge the propriety of that custody under the law. The prisoner, or some other person on his behalf (for example, where the prisoner is being held incommunicado), may petition the court or an individual judge for a writ of habeas corpus. [1]

The founding fathers of this great nation thought that petitioning a court to explain why you were put in jail was so important that they specifically mentioned it in the U.S. Constitution. For more than two hundred years that simple sentence has allowed those accused of crimes and imprisoned to go before a judge and hear the charges levied against them.

Now President Bush has seen fit to take that right away from you.

And I do mean you. In addition to the terror suspects that we sweep off foreign battlefields or the al-Qaeda sympathizers we pick up in friendly nations, I mean you, your family and your neighbors.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 states that unlawful enemy combatants will be tried by the use of military commissions.

What is an enemy combatant? It can be anyone the President defines as an unlawful enemy combatant. It could be a terror suspect or it could be your neighbor who protests the war. It all depends on who the president decides an unlawful enemy combatant is. The act states that an unlawful enemy combatant is:

(i) a person who has engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its co-belligerents who is not a lawful enemy combatant (including a person who is part of the Taliban, al Qaeda, or associated forces); or

(ii) a person who, before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal or another competent tribunal established under the authority of the President or the Secretary of Defense.

Now it's a stretch to say the President is going to remand you into custody because you speak out against the war. After all, freedom of speech is a protected right under the Constitution (for now). However, if the president or his Combatant Status Review Tribunal decide that your words of protest puposefully and materially support hostility against the United States, you could find yourself in trouble. Even more insidiously, you may censor your own words because you don't know the extent of this law. Why go to prison for saying something when you can err on the side of caution and stay quiet?

Think this will never happen? That's what happened when John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts into law in 1798. The acts were used to jail newspaper editors who criticized the government. In 1918 Woodrow Wilson signed the Sedition Act of 1918. It forbade Americans to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, flag, or armed forces during war. [2] It effectively outlawed speech in opposition to the first World War. Hundreds of people went to jail. Ask the innocent American citizens of Japanese descent why they were held without charge for years during World War II.

It's easy to see a law such as this and ignore because you think it will never apply to you. After all, you aren't a terrorist and neither is anyone in your family. The real danger is in the power it gives a President to decide who should be locked away and not have the right to know why. If there is another attack, how will this president respond? How will future presidents? Is it possible that there could be a more heavy handed president and a sympathetic congress that allows an abuse of this right and others?

Every human being has the right to know why they are being locked up and to be shown the evidence against them. This administration, though, has once again seen fit to decide that it knows best and that in this case, it needs the power to lock you up and not tell you or your family why.

Ask yourself this; How can explaining why a person is in jail ever threaten the safety and security of the United States? How does it make us safer?

So far during this presidency, the Bush administration has engaged in secret wiretapping without a warrant, torture of prisoners, allowing the President to reinterpret the Geneva conventions, put prisoners in secret prisons and now taken away habeas corpus for certain offenses.

If these are the tools we need to keep ourselves safe, perhaps the terrorists have already won.

Kim Jong Il and the NK Posse Are Ready to Throw Down

As you can see from the picture above, North Korean leader and all around bad boy Kim Jong Il has rounded up his boys and is spoiling for a fight. Why, you ask? Well, this communist fashion plate has decided that if the United States won't talk to North Korea alone about their nuclear weapons program, then they are going to kick things up a notch.

Tales from the Rust Belt was lucky enough to land an interview with the world's littlest nuclear power when the Dear Leader bid on our copy of Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island on Ebay. You may not know this but the high haired leader of the world's 132nd most powerful country is quite a cartoon collector.

TFTRB: So why did you suddenly decide to detonate a nuclear bomb?

Kim: The G W to the B insists that if we want to talk, everyone in the hood has to be there. I've got things I want to say to him in private. I thought lighting off one of our nukes might get his attention.

TFTRB: You have more bombs?

Kim: Tons more, Dude.

TFTRB: The president is concerned you will sell nuclear technology to al-Qaeda if you are allowed to develop a working weapon. Would you do that?

Kim: Those crazy bastards have fat stacks of oil cash. They make it hard to say no.

TFTRB: You would sell nuclear technology to suicidal, radical fundamentalists?

Kim: Why not? You guys pissed them off, not me. Besides, I have my southern border under control. No one gets in or out unless we want them to.

TFTRB: You have a demilitarized zone.

Kim: (Shrugs) It works.

TFTRB: Russia, China, South Korea and Japan all have an iterest in the security of the region. Why shouldn't they all be involved in negotiations?

Kim: Because I don't want them there and people need to learn that when I want something, I get it. Like that movie you had. I wanted it, I got it.

TFTRB: Not yet. Your Paypal payment hasn't cleared.

Kim: You sayin' I'm trying to stiff you?

TFTRB: Of course not. Now, what will you do if China decides to follow the United States recommendation to impose sanctions on North Korea?

Kim: You'll get your payment. I just have to transfer the money from my checking account to Paypal.

TFTRB: I believe you. I just can't ship it until payment is received. I used to do that and a guy never paid. Anyway, about China...

Kim: I don't worry about China. If they lay sanctions on me I'm sending a few million people north and they can feed them.

TFTRB: These would be the people who are starving in your country?

Kim: No one starves in North Korea. Who told you that? Honestly, you Americans have such a focus on weight issues. Just because we don't have the obesity epidemic you have doesn't mean people are starving to death. As leader of the country, I mandate a very strict diet and exercise program. It keeps us very lean.

TFTRB: There are reports that people have had to eat grass because of a lack of food.

Kim: (Pause) They're vegetarians.

TFTRB: There are also some troubling reports about secret concentration camps for those who are viewed as disloyal to the state. Do such prisons exist?

Kim: Secret concentration camps? You Americans watch too many movies.

TFTRB: I saw video footage of them on CNN.

Kim: We have youth summer camps for party member's children. Perhaps you saw footage from one of those.

TFTRB: These were adults doing hard labor.

Kim: As I said, the exercise regimen I instituted is very tough. You Americans just aren't used to seeing hard work so you can't really judge it when you see it.

TFTRB: They appeared to be carrying buckets of waste from outhouses to the fields where they use it as fertilizer.

Kim: We have a very stringent recycling program. Nothing goes to waste in our superior communist economy.

TFTRB: If I may change the subject, several Japanese citizens have been abducted over the years and taken to North Korea to help your intelligence services learn more about Japanese culture. Have all of those people been accounted for and returned to Japan?

Kim: Where do you get this stuff? I never kidnapped anyone. We have a very healthy tourist industry and several dozen Japanese people have come to visit and never went home.

TFTRB: Come on...

Kim: No, seriously. The Japanese are very hard workers. They come to my country and see it for the worker's paradise that it is and they want to stay. What can I say? The NK is a fabulous place.

TFTRB: I've noticed your answers seem to be peppered with slang. Where did you learn English?

Kim: I have an immense movie collection, well over 20,000 titles. Between that and my satellite dish I picked up English very quickly. I've got a pretty sweet set up, Dude.

TFTRB: I see.

Kim: 60 inch plasma, wireless surround sound...

TFTRB: Sounds great.

Kim: Look, I've got a cabinet meeting to get to. My crew and I don't think Bush is getting our message so it's time to send another one.

TFTRB: Can we get a hint of what that message will be?

Kim: Sure. He quits pestering us about our nuclear program or I launch a missle with a warhead.

TFTRB: Are you sure that's the tone to take with a country that has approximately 10,000 more nuclear weapons than you do?

Kim: I've been watching a lot of Tarantino movies lately. His characters always go over the top to get what they want.

TFTRB: But those are movies and this is geopolitics concerning nuclear weapons and proliferation.

Kim: What's your point? Look, make sure you ship that movie as soon as you receive payment. If the sanctions are imposed I'll never get it. Oh, and if I look bad in this interview I'll have you kidnapped and sent to one of our summer camps.

TFTRB: Gotcha.

Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden

The first Mark Bowden book I read was Blackhawk Down in which he reported on the infamous battle in Somalia that claimed 18 American soldiers. His next book, Killing Pablo, chronicled the hunt for the notorius Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. His latest work, Guests of the Ayatollah, covers the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979 and is as meticulously researched and simply presented as those two works.

Mark Bowden has an innate gift for presenting complex historical situations in a format that is easily understood without being condescending to the reader. His work on this book is no exception. As he lays out the reasons why Iranian hostages took control of the American embassy in Tehran and follows the experiences of the hostage American diplomats, the reader is able to follow the events without being overwhelmed by the situation. His writing style draws the reader into the situation without fictionalizing events to pump up the drama.

His interviews with the diplomats that were held hostage convey their complicated feelings at the time. These were State Department and Central Intelligence Agency professionals who were in Iran to do a job they believed in. For the most part, these people were there by choice. They liked the culture and saw Iran as a modern country that deserved more repect than it received. Even during the Islamic revolution that saw the Shah removed, they were hoping for an outcome that would enrich the lives of average Iranians.

It was refreshing to see the country through the eyes of the diplomatic mission, to see that they were bewildered when the students took the embassy grounds by force and restrained them within. The hostages at first assume the event will blow over because a similar encroachment took place earlier in the year. Then the reality of the situation sets in as time passes.

What was surprising about this book is how well the hostages reactions come across. As the students questioned and tortured them, they were surprised that it was taking place. After all, they saw their mission in Iran as one designed to assist the Iranian people and further the mutual interests of both countries. That they would be treated so shabbily by the students was something they did not expect.

As the book expands and Bowden shows the scope of the crisis it is clear that the U.S government led by President Jimmy Carter was doing everything possible to have the hostages released. He kept public statements low key so as not to inflame the captors while working through every possible channel to effect their release. What is devastatingly clear was that his hands were tied. Iran had no true government at the time, only the interim government that was really nothing but a sham. The Mullahs were now in charge and could not be reasoned with. A military rescue which ended prematurely in the desert with the deaths of 8 soldiers was attempted but failed. Given the logistics of the time and the capabilities of the military it is clear that the attempt would be a longshot but it was attempted nontheless. However, Tehran was too far to reach from the Arabian Sea and mid-air refueling was not yet an option. Just reaching the target turned out to be impossible.

Bowden goes to great lengths to show the families reactions as well as the public's frustration. At the time it would easy to sit back and condemn Carter for not taking stronger military action but the truth of the matter was that any sort of strike on Iran would endanger the hostages. The diplomats could not be safely extracted or even protected from reprisals if the students decided to harm them in retaliation for bombings. Carter had plans to attack Iran and was willing to do so if the hostages were put on trial or executed but the safe bet was to keep things as civilized as possible. His actions were prudent given the limitations of the situations.

This book showcases the hostages and lists what they did to fight back against their captors in evern small ways. Their attempts to keep the students off balance ranged from walking around naked to offend their Islamic sensibilities to passive aggressive behavior to verbal insults that earned them beatings. It was amazing to learn how they kept themselves optimistic for 444 days.

There is a momument to the hostages located in nearby Hermitage, PA on State St. The Avenue of Flags commemorates the event and the servicemen who lost their lives with an enternal flame and a flag lined avenue of 444 flags, one for each day of the crisis. I've been to the memorial and it is nicely done with the respect due to the nature of the crisis.

Small Town Grafitti Artists Celebrate M.C. Hammer

The stop sign at the corner of Clingan and Hager streets in Hubbard was defaced recently. However, all the vandals could come up with was a reference to M.C. Hammer's 1990 hit, "U Can't Touch This". One has to assume the vandals are too young to remember the song from it's time on the radio almost a decade and a half ago. Anyone who does remember the song also remembers it was played incessantly on the Top 40 stations and would have no reason to reminisce. Seriously, no one wants to here that Rick James beat over and over again.

This is my plea to the youngsters of today to please be creative when defacing public property and give passing motorists just a chuckle as you ply your trade. Efforts like this just aren't worth your time. Oh, and if you were wearing parachute genie pants when you did this, there's just no hope for you.