Sep. 29th, 2006

sophiaserpentia: (Default)
The other day in Bailey, Colorado, Duane Morrison walked into a classroom, fired a shot into the floor, and had the students stand and line up. He told the boys to leave, and kept the girls in the room with him.

may be triggery )

Sheriff Fred Wegener says, "I don't know why he wanted to do this."

But, you know, i think he really does know why. I think we all know why. He's just not allowed to say it.

It's safe to say that he did it because he hated women. I mean, beyond saying that to kidnap or kill someone could be called an expression of hatred.

Police report that he made no demands other than, "Go away." He did not expect to walk out of there alive. One could fairly argue, from the news reports alone, that he was committing suicide by cop. He was down and out and apparently had no family. He had, as we say colloquially, "no reason to live."

Instead of simply shooting himself, though, he decided to cause terror and traumatize a few girls first.

But, conventional wisdom will say, surely hatred of women is not enough in itself for someone to do this? So police are going to search for a "motive." If they don't find a suicide note, they'll say instead that his reason will remain a "mystery," and the crime will go down in posterity as an "unexplained tragedy." If they do find a suicide note, maybe it will say something about an ex-wife or his mother or some other woman who wronged him, and they will latch on to that as the "motive."

They will do ANYTHING to avoid having to write, simply, "He hated women and wanted to die, so he raped several and killed one before killing himself." To me, that alone, in itself, makes perfect sense. It is explanation enough.

If he had come in and singled out black students, or Jewish students, or Muslim students, then we would understand hatred to be enough. But not when it comes to women.

Society prefers to probe for some minute detail in a criminal's life, or to call such cases a "mystery," than to face looking at the "big picture" here, which is that the violence which is implicit in misogyny can at any moment, even when we think we are safe in our homes with our husbands or boyfriends, or when we think we are safe at work or at school, turn into explicit violence. It is something that women are never allowed to forget. If police started to declare misogyny to be enough, then we'd have to start having a national debate about it, we'd have to examine the size and scope of sexism in our culture. Is it because too many men hate women that we don't want to believe sexism could be enough, in itself, to cause this?

ETA: Apparently police are now reporting that a suicide note has surfaced. Let's see what comes out of this... maybe i will be proven wrong, but i think the odds are with my prediction above.
sophiaserpentia: (Default)
From here on out, i will post in this journal at least once every seven days, so that if eight days go by and i haven't posted, you will know i've been "disappeared."

This sounds kind of drastic and paranoid even to me, but the law passed by the Senate yesterday allows the Department of Defense to declare anyone, anywhere, to be an "unlawful combatant," US citizen or not, in actual contact with actual terrorists or not, in actual possession of weapons or not. All you have to do is be judged to have given "aid or comfort" to terrorists. According to many right wingers, all you have to do to qualify on this count is to criticize the president. I've done that plenty of times and i'm not going to go back and hide all those journal entries, so i'm just as likely to disappear as anyone.
sophiaserpentia: (Default)


From the CIA's description of this technique:
"The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt."

The painting above is by a person who was waterboarded by the Khmer Rouge.

You can read more about this here: This Is What Waterboarding Looks Like

And from here:

CIA officers who subjected themselves to the water boarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in. They said al Qaeda's toughest prisoner, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, won the admiration of interrogators when he was able to last between two and two-and-a-half minutes before begging to confess.


Oh, and incidentally, the ACLU argues that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (which i prefer to call the "Revocation of Habeas Corpus Act of 2006"), contrary to Senator McCain's proclamation, does not clearly forbid US interrogators from using waterboarding, stress positions, hypothermia, or other torture techniques in their sessions with "suspected" terrorists (well, they get it right 1-3 times out of 10).
sophiaserpentia: (Default)
Oh, goodness, as if the Military Commissions Act of 2006 didn't look odious enough. I just received this in my email. I don't have any supporting links, so i'll keep my eye out for more supporting info. The originator is the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence. The problematic grammar leads me to believe this was very hastily composed.

Despite our collaborative work with the Miles Foundation, NOW, Amnesty International and others, we were not successful in getting a change in the definition for sexual assault in the House. The house voted 253 to 168 to approve the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Today the Senate will take up this bill and we have learned that in an agreement about what can be brought to the floor, no senator will be allowed to bring up an amendment to change this.

Therefore, we are asking that you call your senators today with this message: OPPOSE THE MILITARY COMMISIONS ACT OF 2006

Passage of this bill will:
Change the definition of rape and will require the use or threat of force, coercion and penetration. [i'm assuming this means that "contact and penetration" will be the standard for determining rape under this law. - SS] The language does not mirror definitions under Federal law, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and state statutes. The language will require contact and penetration, elements not mandated by international law.

ENSURE that rape and other forms of sexual violence are not recognized as torture and crimes of war as outlined in the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The tribunals recognized sexual violence and abuse as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.

Call your senator directly or use the capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.

pass it on

Sep. 29th, 2006 09:01 pm
sophiaserpentia: (Default)
Howard Dean,
Chair, Democratic National Committee
430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003

Dear Chairman Dean,

This week, the Congress has taken up two bills which threaten to undermine the last threads of liberty and due process which make this country what it is.

The first act is the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act, which fortunately seems destined to stall before the Senate can act on it.

The second, however, casts an ominous shadow. The Military Commissions Act of 2006, effectively repeals the right of habeas corpus in the United States, by giving the Department of Defense the ability to name virtually anyone, anywhere, an "unlawful enemy combatant." One does not have to be any sort of combatant at all to earn this designation: one might instead be deemed to be giving "aid and comfort" to terrorists.

As Sen. Harry Reid said on the Senate floor, "[T]his bill authorizes a vast expansion of the President’s power to detain people – even U.S. citizens – indefinitely and without charge. No procedures for doing so are specified, no due process is provided, and no time limit on the detention is set..."

Many on the right, including the Vice President of the United States, have openly accused critics of the Administration of giving aid and comfort to America's enemies. Given the current acrimonious atmosphere in this nation, it is not difficult to imagine critics of the Administration being labelled as terrorist sympathizers.

Indeed, as the ACLU reported, the FBI has been tracking leftist groups as suspected terrorists. MSNBC reported that it had acquired a Department of Defense database listing several antiwar protest groups as "threats." After the passage of the Military Commissions Act, it is reasonable for any outspoken left-leaning citizen of the United States to fear being labelled as an "unlawful enemy combatant," detained indefinitely without charge, with no recourse to due process.

This act further undermines bedrock American principles by essentially green-lighting torture.

This act passed Congress by a vote of 65-34, with the support of 12 Democrats: Carper (Del.), Johnson (S.D.), Landrieu (La.), Lautenberg (N.J.), Lieberman (Conn.), Menendez (N.J), Pryor (Ark.), Rockefeller (W. Va.), Salazar (Co.), Stabenow (Mich.), Nelson (Fla.), Nelson (Neb.)

The gloom i have seen among my left-leaning friends upon learning that so many Democrats supported this odious piece of legislation is palpable. I think it no exaggeration to say that after this betrayal, much of the excitement and momentum in the Democratic left has suddenly and significantly deflated -- at a crucial moment in the election cycle.

So, here are a few suggestions on how the Democratic Party might regain the trust and support of its left-leaning supporters. The party simply must take a strong stand, once and for all, and prove that you represent a real alternative to the Republican Party and the agenda of surveillance and secrecy and fear.

The Democratic Party must denounce the actions of its members who supported this act.

The DNC should stop or at least reduce its contributions to the election campaigns of Thomas Carper, Robert Menendez, Ben Nelson, Debbie Stabenow, and Bill Nelson.

The Democratic Party should annouce that, in the event the Democratic Party gains control of Congress in 2007, that:
1. None of these 12 will become Majority Leader or hold any major positions in party leadership,
2. Joseph Lieberman will not become the chair of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and
3. Tim Johnson will not become the chair of the Select Ethics Committee.

These recommendations may be extreme, but after six years of watching the Democratic Party cave time and again, giving only token resistance to the frightening agenda of the president and his party, many of us are wondering why we should give any of our support to Democratic candidates on any level -- local, state, or national. Without some quick and strong action from the DNC, Democratic candidates all over the country may see their momentum suddenly vanish. If you're not there for us, why should we be there for you?

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