We’re War Pigs. So? You got a problem with that?

Posted on March 25, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized, Iraq War | Leave a Comment

This cartoon stems from my amazement at recent comments made by Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and John McCain about the Iraq War. Their gall is breathtaking.

Its right column contains morsels I’ve heard from hawks in the past.

Just like with the Drug War, the Iraq War was precipitated by dishonest fearmongering (LINK to Bush’s Iraq Lies), suffering caused by the war is used to further justify the war, and the people making the money are behind it all.

Sources:

For torture and murder claim see Richard Leiby, “Down a Dark Road,” WashingtonPost.com, 27 Apr. 2007, ret. 25 Mar. 2008. LINK
Casualties were taken from AntiWar.com’s “Casualties in Iraq” page on March 25, 2008. LINK
Costs taken from National Priorities Project’s “War in Iraq Costs” page, ret. NationalPriorities.org, 25 Mar. 2008. LINK
Iraqi opposition was taken from a 2007 poll. A more recent poll could not be found. Gary Langer, “Voices From Iraq 2007,” ABCNews.go.com, 19 Mar. 2007, ret. 25 Mar. 2008. LINK
American opposition and Dick Cheney’s response from Ken Herman, “Cheney’s Dismissive ‘So?’ on Iraq Prompts Swift Elaboration,” Cox News Service, 20 Mar. 2008, ret. TwinCities.com, 25 Mar. 2008. LINK
George W. Bush’s no regrets from Ross Colvin, “Four US Soldiers Killed In Iraq,” Reuters.com, 24 Mar. 2008, ret. 25 Mar. 2008. LINK
John McCain’s comment from Liz Sidoti, “McCain Says US Succeeding in Iraq,” AP, 25 Mar. 2008, ret. 25 Mar. 2008, news.yahoo.com. LINK
In 2005 I received a lengthy e-mail forward damning Jane Fonda for her ideological treason during the Vietnam War.
While listening to fundamentalist Christian radio several years back a Christian American soldier was interviewed during a segment decrying the negative coverage of the Iraqi War. He compared America’s involvement to Jesus Christ’s violence in the temple towards merchants.

The $1,000/hr Victim

Posted on March 13, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized, prostitution | 1 Comment

This cartoon was created out of my disgust at an editorial in the New York Times by Melissa Farley and Victor Malarek, “The Myth of the Victimless Crime.” LINK For all the reasons presented in the cartoon above, they claimed that all prostitutes are victims - including Eliot Spitzer’s high end call girl.

I disagree with their assertions. My abridged arguments can be found in The Prostitution Legalization Primer, and a list of intelligent and proud sex workers, such as Norma Jean Almodovar, can be found in my Prostitution Hall of Fame.

In 2008 my feelings towards those that still believe sex acts by consenting adults require police intervention are the same as those expressed around 1900 by the mayor of Toledo, Ohio, who was exasperated by the inanity of forcing “rehabilitation” and prison on prostitutes:

Why is it constantly necessary to do something to people? If we can’t do something for them, when are we going to learn to let them alone? Or must this incessant interference, this meddling, this mauling and manhandling, go on in the world forever and ever?

For a view from the United Kingdom where the religious right and sex-negative feminists have less sway go to the following Guardian article, LINK.

Addendum:

In a New York Times letter to the editor one woman wrote:

In the various political roundtables this week, everyone seemed to agree, at least, on the “victimless crime” argument. I am shocked that the thoughtful, intelligent people (mostly men) on these shows are so comfortable with the idea that a woman would choose to have sex for money.

Do these people know any women? Can they really believe that this is a choice?

Yes, they do know women. Here are postings about Farley’s article by women who chose sex work, LINK & LINK.

Sources:

Amanda Brooks, “Farley Saves the Day!” Bound, Not Gagged (Blog), 12 Mar. 2008. LINK
Melissa Farley & Victor Malarek, “The Myth of the Victimless Crime,” New York Times, 12 Mar. 2008. LINK
Karly Kirchner, “Melissa Farley Get a Life!” Bound, Not Gagged (Blog), 12 Mar. 2008. LINK
Elizabeth Pisani, “Spitzer’s True Folly,” Guardian, 13 Mar. 2008. LINK
Kathleen Reeves, “To The Editor,” New York Times, 13 Mar. 2008. LINK

Pro-Drugs Column Runs In UK

Posted on February 29, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized, ecstasy, media bias | 2 Comments

London’s esteemed Times newspaper ran a pro-drugs piece by one of its columnists, Martin Samuel (left). This is amazing. In the United States even articles that simply make policy arguments against drug prohibition - while still echoing the ”drugs are bad” mantra - are almost never published. (See Eric Sterling’s post, LINK.) Samuel’s piece was a flat-out defense of recreational drugs. Wow.

Here’s an excerpt:

Now I don’t see my views on drugs reflected too often in the mainstream media, so here goes. This is the comedian Bill Hicks quoted in performance at the Laff Stop, Austin, Texas, December 1991. “I don’t do drugs anymore,” he said, “but I’ll tell you something honestly: I had a great time doing drugs. Sorry. Never murdered anyone, never robbed anyone, never raped anyone, never beat anyone, never lost a job, a car, a house, a wife, or kids. Laughed my ass off, and went about my day. Sorry.”

Martin Samuel, “Better to Have an E Than a Bee,” Times, 4 Jan. 2008. LINK

Leave Your Cocaine Outside the White House

Posted on February 28, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized, cocaine, marijuana, media bias | Leave a Comment

Drugs Equal Death

This cartoon uses the same rationale that the Office of National Drug Control Policy used in the following asinine marijuana ad, LINK.

Barack Obama is open about his past cocaine use. (Although it would be interesting to know how candid Obama would be if his admission had not been published in 1995.) Despite the fact that most cocaine users never become dependent, the mainstream media finds it noteworthy that Obama could have used cocaine without having drug problems as this New York Times snippet shows:

In more than three dozen interviews, friends, classmates and mentors from his high school and Occidental recalled Mr. Obama as being grounded, motivated and poised, someone who did not appear to be grappling with any drug problems and seemed to dabble only with marijuana.

Bush on the other hand is not open about his raucous past. Multiple people allege that he used to use cocaine like fellow staffers from a 1972 Republican senatorial campaign who have claimed he, “liked to sneak out back for a joint of marijuana or into the bathroom for a line of cocaine.”

Bush himself has never denied using cocaine, instead choosing to be coy. Republican hacks like to seize on the fact he once denied using “hard drugs,” however, put in context this appears to have meant heroin. Of course, at Fox any notion of Bush using cocaine is blasphemy. LINK

Sources

Robert Arthur, You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos (2007). LINK
Kitty Kelley, The Family (2004).
Serge Kovaleski, “Old Friends Say Drugs Played Bit Part in Obama’s Young Life,” New York Times, 9 Feb. 2008, ret. NYTimes.com, 28 Feb. 2008. LINK