May 27, 2009 archive

North Korea has once again pushed its self into the worlds headlines with the testing of a second nuclear device on Monday morning followed my the test launching of 5 short range missiles.  As is common the guessing game is in full throttle as to what North Korea really wants if anything.

First the nuclear test:  North Korea might be trying to achieve what India and Pakistan did when they first tested nuclear devices in 1998. Recognition by the worlds governments as independent nuclear powers. First India at that time and continuing to this today is a rising world economic power. Pakistan has since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan has been at the forefront in the worlds fight against terrorism. So what can North Korea offer the world? No natural resources, a collapsed economy and little else.

Sanctions: There are sanctions in place voted on by the United Nations plus additional ones from Japan and South Korea that deal with remittances, travel, trade, humanitarian aid and fuel oil deliveries. China the North’s closer ally has worked around or ignored these sanctions out of fear. Fear that if economic aid was cut off North Korea would collapse leading to a mass influx of refugees across the boarder into China which the Chinese government believes would lead to instability which it would be unable to control. South Korea would also suffer from a sudden collapse.

North South relations: Over the previous ten years the governments of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun worked to engage the North under the Sunshine Policy. With the election of Lee Moon-bak a conservative politician who once worked as an executive for Hyundai all that changed. Believing that North Korea would never adhere to any agreements unless there were consequences for violations. Thus Lee’s government reduced humanitarian aid along with fuel oil shipments causing strained relations which led to the expulsion of South Korean workers from the Kaesong industrial zone after the government accused a worker of spying.

Finally there is the question of succession:  Its believed that last August Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke adding to already existing medical problems. So the question of succession became a hot topic. Who would succeed Kim Jong-il is eldest son who once tried to enter Japan on a fake Jamaican passport for the sole purpose of going to Tokyo Disneyland. Perhaps his 26 year old son Kim Jong-un who was recently given a minor post on North Korea’s Defense Council.

So what is the reason behind North Korea’s testing of a nuclear device your guess is as good as anyone else’s as reading the tea leaves of reclusive North Korea are almost impossible. Many expect North Korea is looking for recognition from the United States giving them, in their minds equal status among the worlds nations.

I figured I’d look to the bloggers in the diversosphere I admire most when it came to the Sonia Sotomayor nomination, so I checked out the blogs of the editors of the recently received NAM Journalism award for journalism in ethnic media, Sanctuary.

Sure enough, Manny, from Latino Politico and Nezua from The Unapologetic Mexican had something to say.

From Manny:

I could go into how excited I am to see a Latina be considered for the SCOTUS, the first in this country’s history and only the third woman (because I am beaming), but the buzz-kill has been rather abrupt from the seeing this accomplished and competent judge attacked for those very things that I consider a source of pride.

It should be a source of pride to everyone.

Conservatives like to talk about bootstraps and how important it is to refrain from whining about ones situation. Well…Sonia Sotomayor couldn’t be a finer example of putting the nose to the grindstone despite all the societial odds stacked against you and making it.

But as we’ll see in the coming days, she is an “intellectual lightweight” despite having a long and stellar career on the bench. She will be attacked as a person of color who has the audacity to uphold affirmative action laws not because they’re the law, but because she’s looking out for her people. The media’s whiteness will show in all its unholy glory.

An example of this mindset can be found during today’s broadcast on NPR’s Morning Edition. Ed Whalen, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, wasted no time on getting that talking point out into the mix right at the onset. There will be no holds barred with this nomination process.

The conservative movement’s success at derailing Sotomayor’s placement on the Supreme Court is hinged on causing white backlash against her identity and making her out to be a token latina/affirmative action candidate instead of the qualified, capable judge that she has proven to be over the years.

As a blunt blogger friend of mine likes to say, “Bet on it.”

So you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.  If you don’t succeed, you haven’t pulled yourself up by your bootstraps.  If you succeed, you will never be good enough.  Meh.

     Fact: Of the 3 people who the Bush/Cheney Regime admits to waterboarding, American citizen Jose Padilla, who is accused of planning to obtain and detonate a dirty nuclear bomb in the USA has been imprisoned on American soil since May 8, 2002. They even put him on trial here. His case was heard by the Supreme Court, the highest court in the empire.

    The strange thing is, the WMD that Padilla was accused of seeking was never found, have yet to surface and can not be proven through evidence.

    That whole evidence thing isn’t such a big deal though since we have denied American citizen Jose Padilla his Constitutional rights to a trial by jury.

    Oh. About Jose Padilla. Did I mention he is almost certainly insane by now? 7 years of solitary confinement, torture and long periods of induced sensory deprivation will do that to a person over time, give or take a few years.

Yippee, I’m getting ready to hit the road again…Is Willie Nelson popular in Europe, do you know his song, On The Road Again.  It always goes through my head since my Dad always sings it when we’re heading out.  I think I left some pictures of him and his motorcycle “Ol Blue” in an earlier essay, but its a catchy tune and its been going through my head with increasing frequency.

It appears we had a f..king religious nut as President who lied to obtain support for the invasion of Iraq in order to bring the end times closer. Cheney and Rumsfeld manupulated the “boy king” by playing to his religious delusions.

Former President George Bush explained to then-President of France Jacques Chirac that that the Biblical creatures Gog and Magog were at work in the Mid-East and must be defeated.  It apears that Bush told Chirac that invasion of Iraq was willed by God in order to usher in the “end times.”

“This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins“.

Counterpunch: Bush’s Shocking Biblical Prophecy Emerges: God Wants to “Erase” Mid-East Enemies “Before a New Age Begins”

More, after the fold.  

Election reform is one of the most important issues facing our country and our world right now, even if it doesn’t get the coverage of torture or abortion.  The way that we run our elections and initiative processes determines who makes policy, the type of policy made, and the tone of our political discourse.  If we ignore it or take advantage of the electoral system, we our doing ourselves and our republic a disservice.

This week:  The results to last week’s poll, a lawsuit to ban electronic voting, “The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny,” online voting in Honolulu, the Progressive Party makes progress, photo ID laws, Sotomayor’s election law history, the disappearance of secretaries of state, and more.

But first, I want to say something about Prop 8 and the recent court ruling.  It is outrageous that gay people in California now do not have equal rights, but the court ruling was more on how the initiative process works, and how Prop 8 fits into the state constitution than it was about gay rights.  There has been a lot of oversimplification of the issues of the court ruling and the initiative process, so I’d like to dispel some of that (as much as an amateur election reform activist can…).  Please follow me below the fold.

Crossposted at Dailykos.com, Opednews.com, and Congressmatters.com