Cartoonists With Attitude

A 9/11 Every Week

A thought occured to me on the subway this morning: the media is being unfair to the Iraqi puppet government. Yes, really.

Consider what happened to the United States after 9/11: we went crazy. We trashed our Constitution, allowed elections to be stolen, went to war against two countries that had never posed a threat to us, killed more than half a million people, legalized torture and domestic spying, built concentration camps, kidnapped thousands of innocent people and “disappeared” them, bankrupted the treasury. And that was only 3000 deaths.

For the last three years, Iraqis have suffered the equivalent of a 9/11 every week. Every week about 3,000 Iraqis have died violent, painful deaths at the hands of the U.S. and the militias freed to do their worst by our invasion.

Imagine what would have happened here had there been two or three 9/11s, much less more than a hundred, as has happened to the Iraqis: The United States would have collapsed. States would have peeled away. Anarchy would rule the streets. The economy would be trashed. We would be a failed state, like Afghanistan during the early 1990s. Warlords and militias? We’d have those, too. In fact, it’s safe to say, there’s no way the United States would be doing as well as Iraq is doing now.

Now, if you need more proof that we’re a bunch of pussies, consider this: Iraq has one-tenth the population of the U.S. If you choose to examine the comparison on a per-capita basis, they’ve actually suffered a thousand 9/11s.

In a final act of contempt, the House GOP has decided that its final act in power will be to push through a “symbolic” (which is Congress-speak for “has no chance of becoming a law because it’s a fundamentally awful bill”) bill requiring doctors to tell women seeking an abortion that fetuses feel pain.

The bill, by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., defines a 20-week-old fetus as a “pain-capable unborn child” — a highly controversial threshold among scientists. It also directs the Health and Human Service Department to develop a brochure stating “that there is substantial evidence that the process of being killed in an abortion will cause the unborn child pain.”

Abortion providers would be required to inform the mothers that evidence exists that the procedure would cause pain to the child and offer the mothers anesthesia for the baby. The mothers would accept or reject the anesthesia by signing a form.

“Highly controversial” is a bit of a generous description for Rep. Smith. There’s a more precise one, which on planet earth we refer to as “wrong.” He’s lying.

When fetuses can feel pain — versus a reflexive drawing back from stimuli — has been the subject of heated debate. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco last year reviewed dozens of studies and medical reports and said that fetuses likely are incapable of feeling pain until around the seventh month of pregnancy, when they are about 28 weeks old.

That report hardly settled the issue for [National Right to Life legislative director Douglas] Johnson’s group. The legislation would enshrine other evidence that fetuses “would experience great pain during abortions by 20 weeks,” the Right to Life Committee said in a letter this week to House members.

Do you notice how in Johnson’s quote, he doesn’t actually acknowledge the fact that a majority of doctors have said fetal pain as 20 weeks is unproven? He doesn’t care. He just openly states that the legislation will simply say so.

At the very least, the possibility of fetal pain at 20 weeks is inconclusive. So the Republican solution is to demand women be made to sign a guilt-inducing permission slip claiming they know it’s true. In a horrid, poetic way, there’s something telling about the last act of the Republican House majority being an attempt to pass a law that orders people to be lied to, isn’t there?

A few things about the site and the strip and stuff:

1. If you have a deep longing for anything in the CafePress stores, order from them immediately. Due to painfully lackluster sales (to the degree that it practically costs me money to keep them open) the odds are that unless I suddenly see a 500% or so increase in sales I’m just going to remove them completely at the start of next year when I redesign the site.

2. I’ll put up a note soon, but for all other purchases from the site, such as books, signed prints, pins, etc., I use standard U.S. Postal Service. If you live outside the U.S. and want anything sent to you before Christmas, the deadline to order is… the next 24 hours. If you live inside the U.S., then you have until December 10.

3. As I just noted, there’s going to be a redesign of the site hopefully at the start of next year to accomodate the new format of the strip as well as a new title. I’ve thought a lot about the new title, but I first mentioned it to my fellow CWAers at SPX and they all agreed it was a good one. In fact, you already know it, because it’s been right under my nose for the last two years. Barring any changes of heart, the new title for the comic (and site) starting in 2007 will be: Some Guy With a Website.

4. There are other things… strange, wonderful things. But not for you… not yet.

5. Mwah ha ha ha.

I’m still dealing with crappy internet at the new house, so I tragically missed the latest blog treat. Much like sighting a deer on the road one evening or something, it’s not like it’s super unique, but still an enjoyable moment in passing: such is another moment of major right-wing bloggers completely making asses of themselves in an attempt to cover up being proven wrong about something.

Long story short: AP prints an article that bloggers don’t like, ergo bloggers claim it’s fake. AP proves it’s not, bloggers yell a lot about how awful the “MSM” is. Klein’s Law has already gone into effect over at Powerline, who are showing their true testament to not actually being journalists by adopting gambling analogies to reporting a story about six people being burned to death.

Which, of course, really sums all these moments up, doesn’t it? These people don’t know what they’re talking about, and moreover they treat the very concept of journalism as some kind of game where telling a favorable story gets them magical invisible points they can trade in later for items from their Amazon wishlist, or links from Instapundit or something like that, as opposed to telling the truth, which is merely, you know, what journalism actually is.

Even in South Florida we have changing leaves for fall. Only one plant here (that I’ve ever noticed) turns red in the mildly cooler weather: Virginia creeper. It’s an invasive vine that’s usually annoying but now it looks pretty.

Here’s an update about the Miami shantytown from activist Max Rameau:

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Greetings:

After just one month and four days, the Take Back the Land Umoja Village Shantytown is built and occupied to full capacity. We have no more land on which to build and we have already turned away no less than three (3) homeless people looking for permanent shelter.

The Umoja Village Shantytown houses approximately 35 full time residents who, otherwise, would have no where to live. These are people who CHOOSE to live in a wooden structure and work for free building and maintaining a shantytown in the United States. We have no more land onto which we can safely build on our side of the lot.

This turn of events is important because it shows the critical need in South Florida for low-income housing and the extent to which local governments are unresponsive to the needs of the people. The needs of each and every developer are met upon arrival, yet the needs of the poor- especially in the Black community- languish.

This does not mean we do not need your support- in fact, quite the opposite. We ask people of good conscience to do one or more of the following:

VISIT THE UMOJA VILLAGE SHANTYTOWN. Come see what has been built and feel the love and buy in of the residents. Make the Umoja Village a permanent part of Miami by visiting and granting us legitimacy. We are at 6201 NW 17th Ave., on the corner of 62nd St. and NW 17th Ave. in the Liberty City section of Miami.

MAKE A CASH DONATION. We have several things we need to build and purchase on the lot besides additional units. You can make that happen by making a cash donation. Donate via PayPal on our blog (takebacktheland.blogspot.com).

DONATE STAPLE GOODS. We are always in need of the basics: fresh food; canned food; water; ice; hand soap; forks and knives; clothing; shoes; large garbage bags; plastic tarps; plywood and 2×4s; and anything else needed to run a city.

DONATE A BIG TICKET ITEM: We need some other items, including: twin sized mattresses; a metal shed; carpet; wooden doors; two 150 gallon water containers with spouts; a 55 gallon drum; four pop-up canopies;

TELL THE GOVERNMENT: HANDS OFF UMOJA VILLAGE. In spite of doing the
government’s job for free, the city of Miami continues to send agencies and provocateurs to the shantytown in an effort to disrupt us and our neighbors. WE HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE THEY WILL RAID AND DESTROY UMOJA VILLAGE. You can stop them. Contact Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and tell him to keep his hands off of Umoja Village. You can help by:

1. Visiting Umoja Village and signing our petition.

2. Sign our on-line petition (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/TakeBacktheLand/index.html).

3. Email and call Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and tell him to keep his Hands Off Umoja Village (email: mannydiaz@ci.miami.fl.us; phone: 305-250-5300).

4. Email and call Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and tell him to keep his Hands Off Umoja Village (email: mayor@miamidade.gov; phone: 305-375-5071).

Let them know we are providing a needed service and should be left alone. If they know we have support, it decreases the chances of them attacking us.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Forward,

Max Rameau
Center for Pan-African Development
Take Back the Land
Takebacktheland.blogspot.com