Persiankiwi Missing

There have been no new tweets from Persiankiwi since June 24. :(

Given the renewed efforts at crackdown, I fear for his life. Especially considering one of his final tweets:

we must go - dont know when we can get internet - they take 1 of us, they will
torture and get names - now we must move fast -

I hope he is safe. I am also sad, because I realized that by naming him, I increased his danger. Now, I'm not exactly a news outlet. And international news picked him up and carried the story with his twitter profile, so it's not really my fault per se. In fact, he had a tweet about that:

foreign news reported us on twitter - we have too much ppl looking at us -

Ironically, given the crackdown and the relative silence from the protesters, I'm afraid that without more international attention, this brave movement is doomed. But it has to be done without calling attention to individuals.

On a more removed intellectual note, the Iranian uprising is a good example of some anarchists' philosophy on voting, which I'm thinking about doing a post on. The summer is a good time for that. Incidentally (not like I don't have enough to do), I'm working with another anarchist to hopefully start putting out pamphlets, good ol' Thomas Paine style. :D

So my What Did You Do This Summer essay would read: I wrote flash and edited an uprising.

Story of my life, really.

-- DV

The Madoff Question

Bernie Madoff received sentencing today: 150 years in prison for eleven counts of fraud (although hundreds of claims have been filed) and having been said to have stolen $65 billion in investments.

It's not that I don't feel sympathy for the people who were ripped off. We have investments of our own that are supposed to provide for our retirement and to help us get a home when we're ready. If somebody ripped us off, I'd be pissed, too. But there is something a little ... uneven in the punishment.

To start with, there is the possibility that the "loses" were miscalculated. At least per the defense attorney, who might be expected to say such things. But given that it is true Madoff grossly overstated the bottom line, how is it fair that some of the victims are demanding compensation at levels clearly based on fraud? They want the imaginary money -- not the actual money. And some very clearly believe they're entitled to it. Some rejected getting their principle back or some return of their cash in favor of holding out in hopes of a bigger chunk of Madoff's own personal ill gotten gains. As though even that conspicuous display of wealth would be enough to go around somehow.

How can a man serve 150 years? He can't. Those sentences are only given out in my opinion because they sound pejorative. They make us feel like a really harsh punishment has been handed down. Why not just ask for "life in prison"? I know that Madoff is sentenced per count of fraud, etc., so maybe there is just something about the technicalities of the legal system I don't understand in my faulting of it. But aside from the impossibility of serving this time and the unevenness of the sentencing, again in my opinion, there is something else that bothers me about Madoff's crime.

And I think it's the victims. Granted, Madoff was an equal opportunity burglar. If you check out this link, you can click on "email and letters" and it will show you actual copies of the letters and emails sent in by people victimized by Madoff. Incidentally, if you go about a third of the way down on the first batch, someone has sent a scam letter from the Congo asking for help cashing a check in return for 10% -- lololol. But, many of the notes include old folks whose entire pensions were tied up with Madoff, who are sick and have little hope of financial recovery, as well as many charitable institutions whose money was stolen. Allegedly he even robbed Spielberg. But when I read things like this from the victims, well, maybe you can see my irritation:

Madoff has shown “no remorse,” said victim Carla Hirschhorn, of Manalapan, New Jersey, at the hearing. She told Chin her life is a “living hell,” her mother is dependent on Social Security and her daughter works two jobs to pay tuition. link

The letters in the Wall Street Journal link frequently mention Madoff sticking them with "a home I cannot sell, my son's college fund gone and not a penny of savings."

If this is something to be outraged about, then where is the outrage for the working class people as well? They live it every day, not just when Wall Street investments get trashed. They might as well be saying: "I'm pissed because you made me into everybody else!?!" If having to work two jobs to pay for college is "outrageous" and makes this man a "monster", then why is it no less monstrous for other people's kids to have to work their way through college? If it is "pure evil" to cause someone to live on Social Security as their only means of support, where is the moral outrage for those elderly people who are forced to live on it now having lost no investments because they had nothing to invest?

If Madoff is a monster because he caused these social conditions, then who will be the voice asking for justice for those people who live these social conditions every day? It would seem that many people understand that it should be a problem to have to work two jobs for college tuition -- but it only applies if they're the ones suffering from lack of a trust fund.

I just can't get as worked up over some of the Madoff victims when there are Americans who work just as hard and have to use food banks to supplement their diets. If what Madoff did was "monstrous" -- what do we call the condition those Americans are in?

-- DV

God Wants Sanford to Remain Governor

At least that's the latest implications from Mark Sanford's unfolding mistress-saga.

His wife recently sat for an interview where she revealed serious ongoing frustration with Sanford and his apparent lack of desire to end his affair.

In her first extended comments on the affair, Sanford recalled how her husband repeatedly sought permission to visit his lover in the months after she discovered his infidelity.

"I said absolutely not. It's one thing to forgive adultery; it's another thing to condone it," she told The Associated Press during a 20-minute interview at the coastal home where she sought refuge with their four sons.

Please, please, may I have my morality cake and eat it too? On top of a dicey sense of personal ethics, Sanford also has a healthy ego as well. He responded to comments about stepping down as the governor. You know, because they tried to impeach a President over a hummer. His response?

About an hour after Jenny Sanford talked of her pain and feelings of betrayal, her husband brushed aside any suggestion he might immediately resign, citing the Bible and the story of King David — who continued to lead after sleeping with another man's wife, Bathsheba, having the husband slain, then marrying the widow.

"What I find interesting is the story of David, and the way in which he fell mightily — fell in very, very significant ways, but then picked up the pieces and built from there," Sanford told members of his cabinet in a session called so he could apologize to them in person and tell them the business of government must continue.

God only dislikes it when Democrats get laid on the side. He understands that Republicans have serious work that must continue on. Incidentally, I'm amazed to discover that being governor is apparently a lot like being a King of the Hebrew peoples. Fascinating.

This isn't going away anytime soon, though. And it shouldn't. Because even though I think people's sexual choices have no place in determining political fitness, it might just have some affect if they set up their entire sexual affairs at taxpayers' expense.

Meanwhile, questions grew about a trip to Argentina he took last summer. While Sanford has agreed to reimburse the state for part of a more-than $8,000 tab that enabled him to see the mistress, state officials indicated they never intended a South American economic development trip to hold meetings in Argentina. That was only done at the governor's behest, said Kara Borie, a spokeswoman for the state Commerce Department.

So, uh, yeah. I think we need to hold an economic summit in Jamaica this coming October because, well, er, I have a thing for good looking men with dreds, and ah, that's probably the best place to scope them out. Besides, they need financial, er, assistance, too. Send me a jet right away.

So, things are not looking too good for our Republican buddy. But not to worry, his buddies at Faux News are helping him out:



Notice the party they say he's a representative of....that's right. That's a D you see there. It's not like this is the first time this "news" channel has deliberately lied to make it look better for Republicans. I guess God condones liars, too.

-- DV

Don't Cry For Me, Argentina

And that would be South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford.

He disappeared for a week, didn't tell his wife where he was going, and totally didn't do Father's Day with his kids. Then his camp was telling people he went hiking on the Appalachian trail by himself. Now it turns out he was in Argentina banging his mistress -- or as he put it, "crying for five days."

Here's a copy of the transcript of his press conference.

There are a couple of things I find interesting about it. First, it seems that God had a plan for Sanford. God both got Sanford in this mess in the first place, and now is holding him accountable for it. Per his statement, here is why he started talking to his Argentinian mistress in the first place:

The -- and -- and there's a certain irony to this. This person at the time was separated, and we ended up in this incredibly serious conversation about why she ought to get back with her husband for the sake of her two boys; that not only was it part of God's law, but ultimately those two boys would be better off for it.

And we had this incredibly earnest conversation and at the end of it, I said, "Could I get your e-mail?"

BWAHAHAHAHA. There most certainly is an irony to that story. And that's how it all began. I guess that's how you give Republicans a boner? Start talking about what God's plan is for your failing marriage? But before he tells us how the affair started, he explains why he's there to confess:

But I am -- I am here because if you were to look at God's laws, there are in every instance designed to protect people from themselves. I think that that is the bottom line with God's law -- that it's not a moral, rigid list of dos and don'ts just for the heck of dos and don'ts. It is indeed to protect us from ourselves. And the biggest self of self is, indeed, self. That sin is in fact grounded in this notion of what is it that I want, as opposed to somebody else.

So he's confessing because he needs protection from himself. Because as we all know, the biggest self of self is, indeed, self. That rivals Clinton's "It depends on what the meaning of the word is, is."

He's resigning as the head of the Republican Governors Association. No word yet about whether he'll step down as Governor.

You know, the Repubs wanted to impeach Clinton for a hummer. At least he did his dirty business on the job site.

More proof that the only threat to heterosexual marriage is not gays -- it's Republicans who can't keep it in their pants.

-- DV

Happy Father's Day to the Other Dads

Happy Father's Day to all Dads, of course. But sometimes I think there should be a special day for Stepdads.

El Hijo is a stepdad, and Dante couldn't ask for better. He's there for homework, for hurt feelings and as a role model. Dante loves private time with El Hijo. He claims they get along "way better" than when Dante and I are by ourselves. This is probably true, but only because Dante and I are very much alike, ergo we know just how to push each other's buttons. Being a stepparent can be really frustrating, too, because there are really intricate rules for dealing with your spouse's kid. El Hijo may get really frustrated sometimes with Dante -- but heaven help him if he doesn't respond the right way! It's just a natural instinct that I think most "natural" parents have with the stepparent. We don't hit, but it just feels different and bad to think of El Hijo giving Dante a spanking. Not that he ever would. And for the record, I don't like Dante's "natural" dad to spank either. Especially in the beginning, it's easy to interpret any possible criticism of the child as being WRONG and the stepparent's problem. It ain't easy for steps.

But the "natural" parent isn't the only problem for a poor stepparent. While it's also not always easy being a stepkid either, they can sometimes make life hell on a stepparent. Every step has probably heard "You're not my real Dad/Mom" or some version of "You're not the boss of me" or "My Daddy does X better" or "My Daddy gives me X,Y, Z" or some version of "You suck." This is also a landmine, because if the stepparent responds in the "wrong" way, they risk the double fault of bringing on the wrath of the "natural" parent.

It ain't easy being a stepdaddy. And so I dedicate the following video to anyone who is a "Stepdaddy" by Hitman Sammy Sam.




And for the sarcasm-impaired, yes, he is poking fun at the stereotypical relationship between stepparents and their stepkids. ("You ain't my dad!" "Shuddup!")

Happy Father's Day, El Hijo! :D

-- DV

Local Anarchy

Holy shit, I found the Pittsburgh Anarchists! Woot: organize pitt.

I was looking for info on the upcoming G20 summit that Obama recently announced would be held in Pittsburgh. I should've figured I'd bump into the local anarchists while I was poking around. It seems like an event of this significance is like a magnet to a protester. People will be watching all over the world -- so it's the biggest venue you could hope to get for your cause.

Surely there must be something to protest come this September 24-25?

-- DV

Added: Apparently there is an Anarchist picnic August 1. LOL. Wonder what my chances are of getting to it?

Khamenei Won't Return My Calls

I've been reading Persiankiwi's tweets and feeling both incredibly proud of people and woefully helpless as a person.

The number of people who are protesting peacefully in Iran, shouting things like "my brother, my martyr, I will claim your vote for you" is moving beyond my ability to describe it. The population of Iran is nearly 50% under the age of 25 years old. The moment seems so fragile -- so full of possibility for either change or violence. To be without communication, to watch your internet connections shut down, your cell phones, etc., to hear gunfire late into the night, screaming, etc. must be so terrifying. We are lucky here. We have our democracy, such as it is, without having to chance being beaten for it.

But I also feel so powerless, because even though I live in one of the most powerful nations on Earth, there is very little I can do to help the people in Iran, and I want to so badly. I changed the time stamps on my Twitter to help confuse the authorities. I send them my verbal support. I try to raise awareness about what is going on with others. But I'm sort of limited to that.

In one fit of annoyance, though, I did try do something different. The Ayatollah Khamenei (head religious oppressor in Iran) has his own website. Internet hackers have been disabling his site throughout the last few days, but I toodled on over there at about 11:00 last night to see what was going on. Surprisingly, he had a "contact me" button. I was delighted, as I thought I could at least send him a sharply worded email expressing my severe disappointment in his behavior.

Yeah, I know, that'll show him.

Sadly, though, he had disabled his own contact link. He must've known I was coming.

I still wish there was something more I could do other than send hate mail to a religious leader. Good luck, Iranians.

-- DV