If you order a lot from Amazon or other online retailers, here is a simple tip to help you live a more green life and reduce your carbon footprint.
When selecting shipping for your goods, be sure to select the option that ships in the fewest packages possible. It may take a little longer for your stuff to arrive, but you wont create as much waste with all of the left over packaging.
If you ever thought there was a limit to what can be accomplished in Photoshop, think again.
Things have been a little heavy of late, so I refer you to Maxim’s 15 Hottest Women in Comics.
Recently, a friend and frequent reader challenged my statements that the Bush administration was dismantling the constitution and leading the US towards a totalitarian state … like Nazi Germany. For the sake of accuracy, here is the question exactly as put to me.
My Friend: I keep looking for signs of this, since I think you’re actually serious about it. I keep missing the torture chambers and death camps on my way to work every morning. Doug, I love you man, but can you keep it in the realm of reality? Or even in the same dimension as reality? Nazi Germany? Man, that’s insulting to everyone who survived Auschwitz. Soviet Union? Am I also missing the gulags for political dissenters? Last I heard, the Dixie Chicks are still recording records and winning Grammys—and they may actually deserve a gulag. And Saddam-era Iraq—I think you’re losing it, pal. Take a deep breath and donate some money to Hillary—you’ll feel better.
As mentioned earlier, this person is a friend and someone whose opinion I respect. So, I’ve given his comments and the ensuing email exchange considerable thought. And, to a certain extent, he is right. There are no death camps … yet. Nor, has Cindy Sheehan or any other political dissenters been arrested … that we know of. As for torture chambers, I give you Abu Ghraib. As for gulags, I give you Gitmo. Granted, neither is on US soil, but I suspect that is by design, particularly in the case of Gitmo. But, this nation is now detaining people … immigrants and U.S. Citizens … without warrant, representation and due process. Most of these detentions are based on race (Middle Eastern) and religion (Islam). Wasn’t avoiding these sorts of persecuetions precisely why this country was founded? When did this become acceptable?
As for the Dixie Chicks, do they really deserve a gulag? This is after all, still America. That so many of my fellow countrymen gladly think the Dixie Chicks deserve prison is truly frightening. They did not encourage rioting in the streets. They did not promote sedition, treason or sabotage. They said …
Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.
Since when did speaking one’s mind, let alone promoting peace and shaming warmongers, become an offense worthy of prison? I get that people weere/are scared and angry after 9/11. Lord knows I was … and still am. And, in the early days after 9/11, I was an ardent supporter of Bush. I thought he rose to the occasion and was going to unite this country, but he didn’t. In fact, he did precisely the opposite. He divided everyone into Patriots (those who trust him and his administration implicitly) and Seditionists (anyone else).
Herein lies the rub. Early on, the majority of Germans did not hold to the Nazi agenda. Hitler and his crew slowly changed laws, increased their powers and bred fear until most decent Germans felt their only choice was to fall in step with the Nazis or be put in the ground by them. Along the way, Nazi expansionist tactics alienated Germany from the rest of the world. The broad-sweeping resulting anti-German sentiment fueled a dangerous, knee-jerk nationalism which helped the Nazi’s achieve critical mass. The rest is, as they say, history.
Today, only about 25% of Americans polled support Bush and the war. Most of us want this administration out. But, die-hards remain that want to seize the opportunity to push an narrow ideological agenda (right-wing, ultra-conservative Christian) rather than a political agenda which serves the entire citizenry and the principles of democracy, liberty and justice on which this country was founded. The only question is, will allow ourselves to be duped, frightened or otherwise bullied into falling in step with the facist leanings of this administration.
As for disrespecting the victims of the Nazi Death Camps by comparing them to the Gitmo detainees, no greater disservice could ever be paid to those people than to forget the human potential for such an atrocity … and allow Gitmo to become anything vaguely resembling it. I am certain that some of our war detainees at Gitmo, Abu Grhaib and other military and INS facilities are genuinely bad guys who need to be there. However, detaining them and so many others in secret only fuels the fires of fear. Hopefully, so long as we remain vigilant, this unprecedented level of investigative detention and secrecy is where the parralels between Gitmo and Auschwitz begin and end.
If you think I am wrong, great. That is your right. Our country and our constitution give us the right to disagree and do so publicly. But before you let the politics of fear and racism form your opinion, listen to something other than Fox News. Get the whole picture before you form your opinion. This country was founded and built by smart, tough, thoughtful people, not children who allowed bullies to take their lunch money … or their civil liberties.
Let’s continue that tradition.
A clever riff on the “PC v. Mac” commercials from Apple.