The National Gadfly

Fresh off their victory to funnel unnamed corporate money into misleading, dishonest, deceitful and vile language advertising disguised as political campaign advertising, Citizens United announced the creation of their new spot. Tentatively titled, “Obama wants to fuck your mother“, the spot will feature images of the President of the United States in a gang bang of white women with their horrified children and husbands being forced to watch.

Julian Assange visited Melbourne Australia last week and was greeted by having his passport seized, told that it will be canceled and questioned about hacking crimes he committed as a teen. According to The Times Online, the authorities took his passport for a period of time and when they returned it to him, he was informed that it would be canceled because it is “looking worn”. They also brought up his past computer criminal record – hacking Telco’s and US Military computers as a teenager, for which he had already been tried, convicted and sentenced.

Self-sacrifice in war is no more noble than self-sacrifice in peace. When a soldier dies in combat we honor that person for giving his or her only life so that others may live. It may be so that other soldiers can live or it may be in defense of one’s country. We honor those who give their lives in the horror of murder that is War.

Not all of us will wear the uniform and answer the call to fight for our country. I did and I live on while some that I know do so, no longer.

Duty. Honor. Sacrifice. Country. Patriotism.

These words are not the province and reward of only soldiers. They are the birthright and cornerstone of citizenship.

What is money?

Money is imaginary to begin with. It consists of something (credit, paper, gold, a number in a computer, etc.) chosen by a society to represent measured units of value for people to exchange goods & services. It is not only a straight replacement for goods & services, but money itself is a commodity. The particulars of how money works makes for good reading.

Money is in one sense, the confidence we have in this society of ours; in our ability to work together, exist together, live together for the betterment of us as individuals and as a group.

Money is trust. Money is a membership in society. Money is a varying measurement on how we feel we are doing as a group. How this plan of working together is going. Money is a report card and an assertion that we all believe in ourselves as a society.

Money makes it possible for people outside our daily transactions, consumptions and interactions with each other – to contribute to each of those parts of our lives. Money makes it possible for someone to make a shoe in one town for us to buy in another without ever seeing or even knowing that shoemaker or town. It’s not just shoes – it’s everything.

I had a conversation with someone today. It’s my usual holiday conversation about the existence of Christ. As a gratefully recovering Catholic and now proud atheist, I did my usual dance of trying to be considerate and polite and changing the subject. As is often the case, my friend continued on undeterred with great curiosity about how I cannot believe in any god and what that might mean. I obliged by quickly employing the word delusional and said that I see no difference between one fairy tale and another. Predictably, we finished up pretty quickly after that.

BURBANK: Information is beginning to emerge from the inside the The Walt Disney Company, that the entertainment and media giant is preparing to announce a national health plan for everyone in the U.S.

CEO Robert “Bob” Iger has scheduled a press conference for this Thursday,two hours before President Barack Obama‘s address to the joint chambers of Congress. With rumors swirling of The White House taking up a draft of its own health care plan, this move is clearly designed to beat the President to the punch and gain the initiative.

Today, on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol, US Senator Al Franken held a press conference to declare his intention to seek a second term as Minnesota’s junior Senator. Sen. Franken spent his entire first term in a lengthy court battle with The Party of “No”. With his wife Fran at his side, he addressed a large crowd of press, supporters and curious onlookers who seemed surprised to learn that Minnesota actually has two US Senators.

(Image courtesy of digado)

As many of you may already know, I have recently launched a community, collaborative blog: sexgenderbody.com. In the last couple months, my content here had become a bit too higgledy-piggledy even for myself. I found that I had a great deal to say on personal politics, the politics of self-definition. This is not a conflict with the conversations I have been having here in the realm of Politics with a capital P, the politics of institutions and society at large or simply – groups.

MEXICO: God, the supreme being, maker of all things, the divine creator of all – has been found…here on Earth. Apparently, God has been here for the last 27 years, living in poverty in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. God, known around the world by many names, (Yaweh, Allah, Krisha, Zeus, etc.), is known locally as Cora, is a single mother of two children, eking out a living as a prostitute in a brothel.

During the Reagan years, I dated a woman that had two children from a previous marriage. They adopted a cat and went through this lengthy process of naming the animal. I really didn’t want to get involved, so I figured that I would offer a suggestion so bad that they’d just leave me alone.

“How about Separation of Church and State” I said.

Crickets.