By Jason Miller

Both George Bush and Dick Cheney have emphatically proclaimed the American Way of Life as “non-negotiable.” As hard as it may be for the feeble-minded, deluded, conscienceless, or hopelessly addicted to grasp, Mother Nature and billions of human beings are going to force us to the bargaining table. We can kick, scream, stomp our feet, and hold our breath all we want, but our abhorrent mode of existence is going down.

Lanova Messiah is a hero of the peace movement here in Exxonia. Lanova's mother was tortured and killed by the corrupt dictator who is currently our country's President. Lanova has been arrested many times protesting the crimes of our government, most recently at the office of one Member of Parliament who had promised to help us remove our dictator from power, but has not, and at the office of another who is also from Lanova's own political party but is protecting the dictator instead of protecting the people. So it was with great joy that we learned that Lanova is running for Parliament herself.

Arianna Huffington is shilling her new book on TPM Cafe, and it's just an exercise in "telling them what they want to hear" for her target demographic.

"The American genius is about bringing out the extraordinary in ordinary people."

This is flatter-the-mob populism at its worst, and the real story is more like tremendously extraordinary people somehow contriving to allow ordinary people to live ordinary human lives.

CommonDreams is currently running a column by Tim Rutten opposing toll lanes on the LA expressways. "Diamond Lanes for the Rich" cites Michael Harrington, author of The Other America, as an authority about "the roots of American inequality," and the idea is that toll lanes for whoever can afford them are about to become another "root."

It’s funny or sad or ironic or whatever to see Michael Harrington presented as a working-class hero in a story about traffic, while a dozen anti-war stories are posted on the same website.

By Jason Miller

4/22/08

(As inspired by a conversation with Derrick Jensen)

“There’s got to be just more to it than this;
Or tell me why do we exist?”

–Iron Maiden

Is the Western consumerist culture that we inflict upon the rest of the world truly the pinnacle of our evolution? If it is, I resign my membership in the human race. Though I don’t fear that I’ll be compelled to tender my resignation any time soon because our so-called “non-negotiable American Way of Life” is a piece of shit, for myriad reasons.

I know that there has always been a segment of the American public that can’t seem to back the two main political parties but the amount of dissatisfaction with both the Republican Party and the Democrats has been particularly pronounced this time around. I have been predicting large scale defections from both parties in this presidential contest, but even I am surprised at the number of people that have been voicing their displeasure at the choices that have been presented to them. Even more than the number of people that are dissatisfied, the thing that I find most surprising is how early on they are voicing these opinions. I had expected that it would be closer to November before we would see this, after the people had time to get a closer look at the candidates, and after the constant media attention devoted to the them became too much to bear. This seems to be happening already, and its only April 1st.

There's been a question rattling around my brain for a while now: Where have the Second Amendment champions been the last few years? Those in favor of liberal gun ownership laws usually speak about it in abstract terms, most commonly harmony with the land and guarantees of liberty. The first argument hasn't been seriously challenged, but what are their thoughts these days about checks against a tyrannical government? Shouldn't the burgeoning surveillance state be anathema to them? Isn't this the kind of issue they should be up in arms (har) about? I would have thought the massive increases in spying and indiscriminate data sweeps would be an unsupportable infringement of their liberty.

I am very excited to see Mike Gravel "jump ship" and align himself with the Libertarian Party. I’m sure that anyone who that has read any of my articles knows that I too have come to the conclusion that there is basically very little difference between the Democrats and Republicans when it comes to the central core issues. We have of course, Republicans that espouse "progressive" stances as well as a good number of Democrats that could be considered liberal/progressives. The premise that the two parties have radically different ideologies when we look at their centrist bases however, belies the fact that the two parties have any real substantive differences.

The United States has become, without a doubt, the most presumptive nation on the face of the Earth. We are in the business of presuming that this country has a legitimate right to interfere with the governments of any country that does not live up to our expectations. We presume that we have a right to actively seek “regime change” toward nations that oppose our foreign or economic policies.

Excuse me if I offend anyone in this article, but I would like to know what happened to the Democratic Party? I always thought of Democrats as those that supported Unions, workers, the middle-class, civil liberties and silly things like that. One thing I was also taught to do was to follow the money when it comes to whom really is supporting who in things such as criminal enterprises and of course, politics. I have been around for a while now, and I believe that I’m just as aware of what’s happening in my own country as anyone else. In fact, I believe that I’m really more aware of what’s happening than most. I am a voracious reader and I have a lot of time on my hands and I actually try to dig behind the rhetoric I hear. What I have found amazes me.

We need a change in nomenclature. Those who continue to support the administration's radical theory of executive power are properly described as authoritarians. Once upon a time they may have been conservative but I think it's safe to say that circa February 2008 conservatism has been orphaned by its ostensible champions.

Throughout history many banners have flown in the name of freedom, many different colors and styles spurred movements on to revolution and victory. From the Star Spangled Banner of the American Revolution to the red banners in the streets of China to the political banners of modern times. These streaming bits of cloth are more than physical symbols born by flag bearers. These banners are accompanied by boxes of thought and explicit doctrines of belief. We rally around banners, they lead us to freedom, they lead us to liberty, and they lead us to justice. But this what the banners of the past have lead us to today? We are now forced to rally behind one banner or another, we are forced to make a choice, we are forced to fight for freedom with conditions - yet freedom is unconditional.

I spent Saturday night at a friend's house and so I was forced to watch 20/20. So you can imagine the sound of my jaw hitting the floor when I heard this on the mouth piece of the neocon news show: