Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.
I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.
Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.
I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.
If you think it’s not coming, you’re crazy. This guy has been out of the army 13 years… and he’s being called back.
David M. Miyasato enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1987, served three years of active duty during the first Gulf War and received an honorable discharge in 1991. He remained on inactive status for five more years, until 1996. Since then, the Kaua’i resident has married, started an Auto Sun tint business and this year, he and his wife had their first child.
But in September, Miyasato received a letter from the Army recalling him to active duty and directing him to report to a military facility in South Carolina on Tuesday.
“I was shocked,” Miyasato said yesterday. “I never expected to see something like that after being out of the service for 13 years.”
Miyasato is now suing the Secretary of the Army, asking a court to prevent the Army from ordering him to active duty. He is also asking for a court judgment declaring that he fulfilled all his obligations to the military.
A 25 year-old man from Georgia, distraught that George Bush was re-elected, took his own life at Ground Zero in New York over the weekend.
According to the Beacon Journal: A computer error with a voting machine cartridge gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in a Gahanna precinct. Franklin County’s unofficial results gave Bush 4,258 votes to Democratic challenger John Kerry’s 260 votes in Precinct 1B. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, said Bush received 365 votes there. The other 13 voters who cast ballots either voted for other candidates or did not vote for president. Damschroder said he received some calls Thursday from people who saw the error when reading the list of poll results on the election board’s Web site.
And some strangeness in Florida as well:
Some words of wisdom from the geniuses at the excellent cartoon site “Get your war on.” Of course, this is only the case if you consider the word “motherfucker” a word of wisdom. Heh.
From Yahoo News: In Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wagner Markues, 54, also preferred Kerry and wondered why the race was so close.
“We don’t understand America now,” he said. “Are they getting different news than us about the scandals in the Iraqi prisons, and the children and civilians who are getting killed?”
There are at least 3 supreme court justices retiring, and depending on Chief Justice Rehnquist’s health, it could be 4. The justices that have spoken of retirement are Stevens, O’Connor, and Ginsburg. Bush will appoint all four and the chief justice. And this will lead to a majority of conservatives in the bench, 7/2. Chief Justice Scalia, anyone?
And meet your new SC justices: Ted Olson, Miguel Estrada and Priscilla Owen. How do you like the new guys deciding the next 20 years of American law?
Say goodbye to Affirmative Action, Roe v. Wade, minimum wage, Social Security, Miranda Rights, separation of church & state, funding for science, and condoms. Say hello to Patriot Act II, mandatory prayer in schools, social services provided by Evangelical churches, “creation science” in the curriculum, and the Ten Commandments in the courts.
And say goodbye to any rights for me. There will be a constitutional amendment taking away marriage rights — but it will also disallow any legal arrangement that is meant to imitate a marriage, which means my will won’t be valid, nor will any power of attorney I set up, nor any health or insurance benefits. There is now nothing I can do to protect my family. I’m screwed.