JABbering Stooge

Wednesday was the first day of the Bring Them Home Now Tour that started by pulling the stakes up from Camp Casey in Crawford and will culminate in a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C. on September 21. The first stop for the Southern Tour (of which Mrs. Sheehan is a part) was here in Austin. As part of my preparation for participating in the event, I made a sign from the following image that I cobbled together using Fireworks and Photoshop:

I’ve been meaning to comment on Hurricane Katrina, but I’m still collecting my thoughts on the subject. Word of warning though, some of what I have to say will be fairly caustic - and none of it complimentary of the thugs currently in power - but I feel it needs to be said. In the meantime, to pre-emptively soften the blow, I will use this post to entertain(?) you and use the next one to report on recent local news.

One of my recent posts earned some comments (you’ll notice that I recently upgraded to Haloscan for my comments) from someone over at Mind Nuggets. Clicking through to her blog, the latest entry included a link to a site that allows you to custom-build your own South Park character, in a American Chopper-meets-Trey Parker-and-Matt Stone sort of way.

And so, without further ado, here is what I came up with after playing around for a bit on the site:

Note: I have decided not to use Haloscan for comments at my new blog location because of all the complaints I heard from other bloggers about Haloscan.

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Sept. 2, 2005 12:22 AM)

I just thought of something in relation to the content of my last post. Thomas Cadmus and his American Legion cronies may be guilty of a Section 802 violation of the PATRIOT Act. Section 802 amends Section 2331, Title 18 of the United States Code to read as follows:

(5) the term ‘domestic terrorism’ means activities that–

(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;

(B) appear to be intended–

(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

Inciting American Legion members to politically-motivated violence most certainly "[involves] acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State" and is without a doubt "intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population."

Sauce for the goose is just as good for the gander, as they say.

Oh wait - that’s right, the Patriot Act only applies to liberals and "swarthy males."

Funny, you’d think that the American Legion, which bills itself as a "patriotic, mutual-help, war-time veterans organization," would be well aware of the following clause in the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

But, alas, our faith in the Legion’s dedication to the principles of the Founders has been sorely misplaced. According to an AP-Ipsos poll, 87% of Americans can understand this vital principle. Why can’t the American Legion? I guess they’re too busy advocating theocracy in America - another First Amendment violation. (D’oh!)

Of course, in Right Wing World, I’m a troop-hater for daring to criticize the American Legion.

Technorati tags: American Legion, Iraq War, Patriot Act

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Aug. 31, 2005 4:15 AM)