February 18, 2006: revision99 Has Moved

The blog has relocated to
http://revision99.com.

I hope you'll join me there.

Message in a Cartridge

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED. SEE BELOW.

Holy shit, Dick Cheney has actually shot a guy.

That's right, the Vice President sprayed a fellow quail hunter yesterday with shotgun pellets at a range of thirty yards. The shot hit Harry Whittington in the face, neck and chest, and he's in the ICU at a hospital in Texas.

For some reason, the Vice President's office didn't announce this when it happened on Saturday morning, and in fact didn't bring it up publicly for a whole day - after the shooting was reported on the web site of the local paper. They say they wanted to wait until Katharine Armstrong, the owner of the ranch where this took place had a chance to make the announcement herself, but of course I think otherwise.

I think Cheney has finally gone over the Rambo wall and is sending a message to Scooter Libby, Joe Wilson, Mike Brown(ie) and any other chickenshit "whistleblowers" that may be out there: "I might be the Number Two man in D.C., but I'm the baddest Dick in America and if you fuck with me I'm goan take you down."

Nobody really knows how many heart attacks the guy has actually had. He may not have that long to live, and he may want to take a few scaredy-cat, anti-American, fetus-killing tax-and-spend liberals with him. Of course, the guy he shot is a millionaire Texas Republican lawyer, but I'm just sayin' "watch your back."

Can you imagine what poor Karl Rove is going through right now? I sure wish I could have been there when he got this news.

• The administration's poll numbers are down in almost every category, and most of them are below 50% approval.
• Hurricane Katrina won't go away.
• Michael Brown has developed political rabies and turned into a vicious, snarling beagle.
• The lapdog New York Times ratted them out on the court-free domestic spying.
• Libby's indicted.
• Social Security "reform" is dead.
• Delay's indicted.
• Republicans are slipping and sliding up and down K Street on Jack Abramoff's grease.
• The "war on terror" and the occupation of Iraq are going badly and getting damned unpopular.
• Even Rove himself remains under investigation by the bulldog prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

It must be hectic to spin all this stuff every day so that it looks like it was exactly what they had planned and that it really is a good thing for America and Freedom. Now this.

"Cheney did what!? Was it self defense? Please tell me it was self defense. Can we say it was self defense? I want every doctor in Texas at that guy's bedside, and no photographers. Oh, shit, what's his face look like? Never mind, I don't want to know. OK look. Here's our story. The guy circled around - he might have been drinking - and he came up behind Cheney - no, he snuck up behind. He didn't follow hunter's protocol, he didn't announce himself, it was his own fault. Get him to make a statement to that effect. It was his own fault.

"And God damn it, I don't want to see pictures in the Times of Cheney laughing and holding up a bloody quail by the feet."

UPDATE, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15, 2006: OK, it was funny for a minute, even though we all knew the joke was on poor Harry Whittington. But the party's over, and I am ashamed of myself for making light of it. Whittington is in much worse condition than I knew. Some of the shot has worked it's way inside, near his heart, and he's had a heart attack and been returned to intensive care, where they intend to keep him for another week.

Cheney did not go public with this story for somewhere between 18 and 22 hours. The White House is acting like they didn't have the full story for that long. Plus, they have been trying to make like Whittington himself is to blame for not "announcing his presence." This is bullshit, of course.

Why the long delay? Is it because Cheney was drunk? Where is the police report? Or is this just another example of Cheney and the rest of his arrogant gang withholding information from the public, simply because they can?

Every hunter will tell you that the shooter is always the one responsible. When you fire, you have to know where everyone is. If you shoot someone, it's your fault, end of story. At the very least, the Vice President should grow some balls, stand up, admit he made a stupid mistake and apologize to Whittington and his family publicly.

This is a case of criminal negligence. Fat chance there will be any prosecution, but at least Cheney should be man enough to take the blame. He will finally break his silence on television today at 6 PM Eastern time.

Surprise: He has chosen Fox News as the venue.

Be The Wave

I wrote in my previous post that it may be possible to take back our country,

but that it would be necessary for everyone to help in the effort. Shephard suggested that I produce a list of whom to contact if you want to try and make a difference. So here's the deal.

Everyone has to participate. You have to learn about the issues, and you have to vote. You can educate yourself on the internet (you're already on the internet, right?) and also just by reading the paper and listening to news on the radio. Note that you will have to filter what you read and hear, but the only way to get good at that is to do it. It may take some time, but if we don't get involved in what's happening to the world we deserve what we get. For example, we have only ourselves to blame for the current administration in Washington. These guys won on the slimmest of electoral margins, while many of us stayed home. What if we had all voted?

In between elections you have to challenge politicians who do bad things. You can do this by taking part in demonstrations and by writing to your elected representatives and to newspapers. It's important to make your voice heard on the issues that matter to you. How else can our elected officials know how we want them to act?

To summarize:

• Learn what's happening to your world.
• Stand up and be counted in public ways. Don't be afraid. Get some shit on your Permanent Record.
  
• Tell your representatives what you think (write to them).
  
• Tell everybody what you think (write letters to the editor).
• Vote. The Republican strategy has been to make you stay home on election day. They are not the majority, but they can win if we fail to oppose them at the polls.

Here are a few resources:

• Project Vote Smart. Type in your zip code at this site and get a list of all your elected representatives, including links to their web sites so you can get their addresses and write to them.
• The Huffington Post. Arianna Huffington used to be conservative, now she's liberal. This is the direction everybody goes when they learn what's happening in the real world. No matter - her site provides a forum for writers, artists, observers, politicians and pundits of all stripes, from centrist to leftist. You get to talk back to all of them.
  
• Donkey Rising. Also known as EDM, or The Emerging Democratic Majority. Here you'll find (centrist) strategy and analysis of just how we will take back the nation. Again, you are able to contribute to the conversation.
  
• Open Secrets. Who is paying for your government? Follow the money at OpenSecrets.org.
• National Public Radio. Fair and in-depth reporting on news of the day. Read the news or listen online, or find your local affiliate station. There must be a reason the Republicans keep wanting to eliminate their funding.
• Move On. News, inspiration and involvement opportunities. Also, somewhere in there is a guide to writing effective, likely-to-be-published letters to the editor. (Someone let me know when you find it, OK?)
• TruthDig. This is where Robert Scheer went when the LA Times fired him for being too liberal. An interactive site featuring news, commentary and videos "...for people actively seeking to understand the world..."

Obviously this list is not exhaustive, nor is the Right represented at all (they do a fine job of that themselves). Not only that, but some of this stuff is hard reading. If we'd been paying attention for the past two decades this wouldn't be necessary. But if you are concerned about the future, get started!

This is not a time to be timid. We can't afford to lay low and keep out of sight. But we can improve things if we all take part. We haven't come this far only to have Big Oil take over the government, strip us of our human and civil rights and send us off to Permanent War. If you're afraid now, how will you feel when The Patriot Act is made permanent and the Supreme Court declares that anything is legal if the President says it is?

A groundswell is beginning. See the wave. Be the wave.