The "mere Iraqi" defense?

Not many know that I was in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps as an attorney from 1970 to 1974. Someday, I will tell that whole story, but for this Post, suffice it to say that I speak from first-hand knowledge, and not out of my ass.

I was reading this article a few moments ago and suddenly realized that it illustrates a modern-day application of the old "mere Gook" defense that used to crop up all the time in 'Nam era defenses. The crime is mitigated by the categorization of the victim. In the 1970's era, there is no doubt that the military "justice" system tacitly recognized the "mere Gook" defense. In retrospect, I'm not ashamed to say that if I was defending some Yahoo from Kansas (or New York to be fair) who had gotten all hot an bothered in a bar and blown away a Vietnamese citizen, I would at least try to mitigate the sentence, if not defend against the charges with the the mere Gook defense. I did not feel good about it by any means, but my sworn oath was to defend my client. Later, when I prosecuted, I vigorously pointed out that my "slimy opponent" had the audacity to even give the light of day to such a racist defense as the mere Gook defense.

Anyway, after reading the linked article above, it's clear to me that things don't change a bit. Now we have the "mere Irqai" defense, but what makes it worse is that it's being institutionalized and invoked not by fucked-up 18 year olds who were drafted in the 'Nam conflict, but by cold-hearted killers who are getting their rocks off on this whole scene. Shame on them and everyone involved.

My 2 cents worth...

Tom

The ruling class rules...

I know that public financing of all elections, with no outside contributions is a dream on my part, but the following excerpt from an article by Robert Reich, really brings it home for me. Oh, and as my good friend Michael Lally said many years ago: "The ruling class rules, and the working class works. What does the middle class do, middle? No, they work for the ruling class, just like the working class does."

The biggest emerging pay gap is actually within the top 1 percent of all earners. It's mainly a gap between corporate CEOs, on the one hand, and Wall Street financiers -- hedge-fund managers, private-equity managers (think Mitt Romney) and investment bankers -- on the other. According to a study by University of Chicago professors Steven Kaplan and Joshua Rauh, more than twice as many Wall Street financiers are in the top half of 1 percent of earners as are CEOs. The 25 highest-paid hedge-fund managers are earning more than the CEOs of the largest 500 companies in the Standard and Poor's 500 combined. While CEO pay is outrageous, hedge-fund and private-equity pay is way beyond outrageous. Several of these fund managers are taking home more than a billion dollars a year.

At the very least, you might think that Democrats would do something about the anomaly in the tax code that treats the earnings of private-equity and hedge-fund managers as capital gains rather than ordinary income, and thereby taxes them at 15 percent -- lower than the tax rate faced by many middle-class Americans. But Senate Democrats recently backed off a proposal to do just that. Why? It turns out that Democrats are getting more campaign contributions these days from hedge-fund and private-equity partners than Republicans are getting. In the run-up to the 2006 election, donations from hedge-fund employees were running better than 2-to-1 Democratic. The party doesn't want to bite the hands that feed.

Heeeeeeeeeeeres Johnny!

Making me chuckle, with thoughts of long-past better days.

~ Tom

Ah, Louis...

``There's some folks, that, if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.''

~ Louis Armstrong

Sweet Interlude - Tom's version

My friend Michael posted a link to a very trippy video. He titled his post "Sweet Interlude 2."

In the same spirit, here is my Sweet Interlude.

~ tom

The Smirking Chimp

I've been meaning to mention a web site that I check out routinely. When I mention it to others it seems most of them have never heard of it. To get you started check out this article and then poke around site. You can't help but love The Smirking Chimp if you are a member of the choir that is being preached to!

~ Tom

Belzer gives us Twain

All I can say is amen.

~ tom

Thinking of dead friends...

I was surfing around and found this wonderful, wonderful piece of music. I had never heard it before. I listened and watched it three times in a row, thinking of fallen friends who would have loved it, and getting pretty choked up in the process: Lee Lally, Sue Mahannah, Bill Mahannah, Ralph Dickey, Brian Sax, Linda Akulian, and Virginia Broder.

There are other friends who have passed who would have appreciated the song, but not loved it. The key here is that I am pretty positive that the folks I listed above would have played it three times in a row, just as I did. If you want to leave a comment listing your fallen friends who would have loved it, I would be honored.

T.

Still howling after 50 years

Please take the time to read the following article. Then go to the link mentioned in the article to hear a full show about Howl, which includes a reading of it from 1959 by Ginsberg himself.

Why is it we can allow all manner of truly obscene matter on the airwaves (Bush's lies and deceit being near the top), but an enduring stroke of pure genius is too much for us to be trusted to hear? As Lenny Bruce once said in an analogous context, "a knowledge of syphilis is not an instruction to get it."

After listening to a bit of the program I was staggered to find that there have been readings by the author of Howl on daytime TV in past years! This shows me that the current milieu is indeed draconian if not a full-blown fascist totalitarian regime.

Sigh.....

September snow!

Last weekend we went to our place at Tahoe/Donner to winterize it for the coming cold season. This mainly involves taking down outside watering system and turning off the main water valve to the house. When we go back up for skiing this winter we will turn main water back on, but the reason we turn it off is to prevent pipe freeze/break if the power goes out. Anyway, we got up there last Friday and went to bed, only to wake up to SNOW! the next morning. It wasn't a lot, but 2-3 inches in September is pretty rare. Here are some photos to prove that I was not hallucinating!