Monthly Archive for November, 2006

Ohio hunters murdered 39,629 deer on the first day of deer hunting season Monday

November 29, 2006 15 Comments Tags: , , .

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Ohio hunters bagged 39,629 white-tailed deer on the first day of deer-gun season Monday, a slight increase from last year.

Preliminary figures from deer-check stations statewide showed hunters killed 934 more deer than the first day of the 2005 season, wildlife officials said.

The 10 counties yielding the most deer were: Tuscarawas, 1,858; Guernsey, 1,615; Coshocton, 1,503; Washington, 1,451; Holmes, 1,304; Harrison, 1,244; Licking, 1,192; Muskingum, 1,127; Athens, 1,101; and Meigs, 1,054.

In central Ohio, totals reported by the Ohio Division of Wildlife were: Fairfield, 574; Pickaway, 269; Delaware, 232; Franklin, 87; and Madison, 41.

Wildlife officials estimate about 400,000 hunters will kill 115,000 to 120,000 deer during the nine-day deer-gun season.

Is this something to be proud of? Of insecure men toting guns and killing 40,000 innocent animals who are just trying to survive on the land they occupied first? This will be a very sad nine days for Ohio. I will never understand hunting.

One of the most illogical pro-hunting statements I hear and see often is that hunting is a sport.

One definition of “sport” is “an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition.” Where exactly is the competition? Using high-tech equipment to locate and shoot an innocent animal who has no way to defend itself is not competition. Give the deer a gun and then it may be closer to a sport. Until then, you are not a sportsman. You are a violent killer with an ego who is insecure in your masculinity.

Some people hunt for sustenance. That’s fine and I could understand that, that’s how it was for many native settlers in this country. But I’m willing to bet the 40,000 deer killed on Monday were not killed to feed a family.

The claim that hunters take pride in their kills because they respect and admire the beautiful animal is complete crap.

Out of respect you kill it? What kind of fu–ed up logic is that?! So I should kill my whole family and all my friends and hang their heads on my wall? Do hunters know how ridiculous they sound when they say that?

There have already been a couple stories of hunters getting injured or killed, including a highway driver who was shot by a hunter shooting too close. Not that I want anyone to get hurt or killed, but really, times that pain by 120,000 and you’ll see how the deer feel. It’s not fun getting shot is it?

This whole thing is disgusting and overwhelmingly sad for me. It feels like another step back in morality and humanity.

The sad day that is Thanksgiving

November 22, 2006 0 Comments Tags: .

Ahhh another Thanksgiving is here again. A day when 45 million turkeys are killed so Americans can uphold another holiday tradition. Another day that reaffirms my desire to never eat meat again. Another holiday where I have to explain to my extended family members that I will not starve by not eating meat, that I have plenty of other things to eat at Thanksgiving besides the flesh of a bird corpse. But there are still millions of families who can’t wait to sink their teeth into a big bite of juicy turkey. For them I would like to share some things…

How Does that Yummy and Juicy Turkey Get to Your Table?

This is a video that shows you exactly how that delicious Butterball arrives on your plate. And if you can’t stomach watching it, how in the world can you stomach eating it? It’s called cognitive dissonance…

Top 10 Reasons NOT to Eat Turkeys

  1. They’re Begging Your Pardon
    Turkeys are “smart animals with personality and character, and keen awareness of their surroundings,” Oregon State University poultry scientist Tom Savage says. Turkeys are social, playful birds who enjoy the company of others. They relish having their feathers stroked and like to chirp, cluck, and gobble along to their favorite tunes. Anyone who spends time with them at farm sanctuaries quickly learns that turkeys are as varied in personality as dogs and cats. The president “pardons” a turkey every year—can’t you pardon one too?
  2. Get Rid of Your Wattle
    Turkey flesh is brimming with fat. Just one homemade patty of ground, cooked turkey meat contains a whopping 244 mg of cholesterol, and half of its calories come from fat. Research has shown that vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease, and they have 40 percent of the cancer rate of meat-eaters. Plus, meat-eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than vegans are.
  3. Can You Spell ‘Pandemic’?
    Experts are warning that a virulent new strain of bird flu could spread to human beings and kill millions of Americans. The Bush administration is trying to deal with the problem, but experts warn that current factory-farm conditions, in which turkeys are drugged up and bred to grow so quickly they can barely walk, are a prescription for disease outbreaks. Eating a turkey carcass contaminated with bird flu could kill you, and currently available drugs might not work. Cooking should kill the virus, but it could be left behind on cutting boards and utensils and spread through something else you’re eating.

    4. Continue reading ‘The sad day that is Thanksgiving’

UCLA Campus Police Tasering

November 20, 2006 0 Comments Tags: , .

This is a very late post, but I want to get this out there.

Last Tuesday, November 14th 2006, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, an Iranian-American UCLA student was shot 5 times with a taser gun by UCPD officers (campus police) because he could not show his student ID when requested. It’s school policy that after 11pm campus police check the IDs of the students in the library to make sure everyone who’s there is allowed to be. Tabatabainejad is a UCLA student but did not happen to have his ID with him that night, which is when the trouble started.

I really can’t sum up what “the trouble” is any better than the video does, so watch it and you’ll see where the outrage is coming from. This video was shot by a student using his cell phone. In the very beginning you can’t see much until he stands up from behind the computer, but you can hear the audio clearly the whole time. It’s sickening and disturbing, which is why it demands action.

Contact the UCLA Police Department and express your disapproval of how the situation was immorally handled. This kind of brutality, ethnic profiling, and abuse of power cannot go unpunished.

  • Dr. Norman Abrams (Interim Chancellor) – chancellor@conet.ucla.edu
  • Dr. Daniel Neuman (Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost) – evc@conet.ucla.edu
  • Dr. Maryann Jacobi Gray (Assistant Provost) – mgray@conet.ucla.edu
  • Dr. Robert J. Naples (Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students) – dean@saonet.ucla.edu
  • Karl T. Ross (Chief of Police) – kross@ucpd.ucla.edu
  • John Adams (Captain) – adamsj@ucpd.ucla.edu

Here’s the email I sent:

I’m not a UCLA student, nor do I even live in California. I’m an Ohio resident and student at Ohio State, but most importantly, I’m a human. A human writing to express my complete disgust and anger towards the actions of the security officers involved in the Powell Library tasering incident. To read UCPD’s pathetic attempts to justify the repeated tasering of this student is insulting. With so many witnesses and video/audio evidence to back up the students’ claims, to say that Tabatabainejad was encouraging others to “join his movement” is ridiculous. The only movement those students were joining was one of human decency and outrage at the officer’s abuse of power and the violent assault of a fellow student.

How dare any security officer use a taser on a non-violent student even once, let alone five times. Why do they even have tasers in the first place, they’re not real police officers! If he was refusing to move (or was it because he was repeatedly tasered so he couldn’t move?), they could have picked him up and carried him. Obviously these officers have never been tasered before since they used it as willingly as a squirt gun.

It is not enough to simply fire these officers or any other slap-on-the-wrist reprimanding. They need to be punished for real. It’s tempting to say you may as well taser them five times to see how they like it, but I am choosing to take the higher road than the officers took. Don’t let these officers get away with such a disgusting crime.

My new favorite quote

November 19, 2006 0 Comments

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

I first heard this quote in the movie Akeelah and the Bee. I was thinking about it tonight while thinking about school and my fear about going back to OSU. I looked it up and found it was not Nelson Mandela that said it (which is to whom the movie attributes it) but Marianne Williamson, an inspirational author. Regardless, I still love the quote. And for the record, I’m taking out two God references to suit it to my own beliefs.. just in case people come upon this page in the future, it’s not copied word for word.

Why do the Democrats refuse to talk about impeachment?!

November 15, 2006 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Congressman John Conyers wrote this in a recent email sent out to his supporters and election protection volunteers:

“Although we won back control of Congress, none of us should delude ourselves into thinking that running the legislative branch in a nation wracked by years of one party rule will be easy. We need to put aside any thought of anger or payback. Instead we need to focus on identifying and correcting abuses and pass legislation which serves the interests of the American people…

…As many of you also know, I have agreed with Speaker-to-be Pelosi that impeachment is off the table. Instead, we agree that oversight, accountability and checks and balances, which have been sorely lacking for the last six years, must occur. I have nothing but respect for those who might disagree, but that is where I come out.”

Accountability, checks-and-balances, and oversight is exactly what Impeachment is!!! No other President and Vice President in the history of our country are more deserving of impeachment. It’s not an act of “payback”, it’s showing future Presidents that there are consequences to their actions. (Very lenient consequences considering all the people Bush and Co. have murdered, but consequences nonetheless.) If George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are not impeached, than Congress may as well white out that part of the Constitution and for that they should be ashamed.

Here is Wikipedia’s definition of Impeachment:

"Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the legislature which allows for formal charges to be brought against a high official of government for conduct committed in office. The trial or removal of an official is separate from the act of impeachment. Typically, the lower house of the legislature will impeach the official and the upper house will conduct the trial.

At the Federal level, the House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching the President, Vice President and all other civil officers of the United States. Officials can be impeached for: "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." The United States Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. The removal of impeached officials is automatic upon conviction in the Senate."

Better yet, here’s the exact wording in the Constitution. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution states:

"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

More and more every day both the mainstream media and the government are seeing that a significant portion of our country believes there is a case for the impeachment of both Bush and Cheney. This issue is not going to go away, no matter how many times the new Democratic leaders declare that impeachment is not on their agenda.

Think we don’t have enough arguments for a successful case? Bill Clinton sure didn’t need many reasons. Yet, here are 10 reasons to Impeach George Bush & Dick Cheney. And there’s plenty more where that came from.

  1. Violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal “War of Aggression” against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, misusing government funds to begin bombing without Congressional authorization, and subjecting our military personnel to unnecessary harm, debilitating injuries, and deaths.
  2. Violating U.S. and international law by authorizing the torture of thousands of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths, and keeping prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
  3. Violating the Constitution by arbitrarily detaining Americans, legal residents, and non-Americans, without due process, without charge, and without access to counsel.
  4. Violating the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.
  5. Violating U.S. law and the Constitution through widespread wiretapping of the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant.
  6. Violating the Constitution by using “signing statements” to defy hundreds of laws passed by Congress.
  7. Violating U.S. and state law by obstructing honest elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
  8. Violating U.S. law by using paid propaganda and disinformation, selectively and misleadingly leaking classified information, and exposing the identity of a covert CIA operative working on sensitive WMD proliferation for political retribution.
  9. Subverting the Constitution and abusing Presidential power by asserting a “Unitary Executive Theory” giving unlimited powers to the President, by obstructing efforts by Congress and the Courts to review and restrict Presidential actions, and by promoting and signing legislation negating the Bill of Rights and the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
  10. Gross negligence in failing to assist New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina, in ignoring urgent warnings of an Al Qaeda attack prior to Sept. 11, 2001, and in increasing air pollution causing global warming.

Does reading all that pi$$ you off?? If you care about your country even the slightest bit, than it should. If you want to do something, sign this petition, it’s a great start. Then start talking about this with everyone you can. Write letters to the Editor. Write to your representatives. Talk to your co-workers, friends, and family. Get people to see they’re not the only ones thinking about this. Despite what your apathy and complacency may lead you to think, Bush and Cheney are not guaranteed two more years.

My election protection observer experience

November 14, 2006 0 Comments Tags: , .

Last Tuesday I was an election protection official for the Ohio Democratic Party. I had to attend one of their training sessions to get all the info on voting rights, rules, and the responsibilities of being an observer. The training was a couple hours, held in a union hall on South High Street. I was probably the youngest person there, and most were there to be trained for working at the 1-888-DEM-VOTE call center on election day. They were extremely short on volunteers. Not even enough to put one person at every precinct in Franklin County.

Because I had to work, I wasn’t able to get to my assigned precinct until about 4 o’clock. I went to Linmoor Middle School where there were 2 precincts operating in the auditorium, 17-D and 17-E. It’s a rather poor section of Columbus, about 99% black voters. Almost all of them were carrying a “Turn Around Ohio” (Democrat) mailer to vote off of. Of course there weren’t any Republican observers there, I doubt they care about precincts like these, seeing as Blackwell only got 44 votes to Strickland’s 286.

Before I get to the bad observations, let me note the good things I saw:

  • Plenty of poll workers (about 5 @ each precinct)
  • Enough machines (5-6 @ each), all in working order
  • No waiting to vote (though this could be seen as a bad thing in terms of voter turnout.)
  • Poll workers enforced the “no campaigning” rule very strictly. Voters weren’t even allowed to have their voting cards out of their pockets before they got to the machine. And when the NAACP came by to give free t-shirts to the poll workers, they wouldn’t accept them because they thought they were counted as campaign material and they shouldn’t even be in the building. For the record, the shirts were not advocating anything but voting in general. So maybe the poll workers should have worried more about the ID and ballot rules instead..?

Now, the bad thing I saw, many voters were voting provisionally. This could simply be because people hadn’t updated their registration (which means their vote will likely be counted.) Or it could be the poll worker’s lack of understanding the rules, so when in doubt they gave prov. ballots. I wasn’t sitting close enough to see what the reasons were, I only saw people filling out the forms.

The bigger problem that stemmed from the provisional ballots became known at around 5 o’clock. I was talking to one of poll workers, just casually, nothing about the voting. Then he looked over at the other precinct’s table and saw one of the poll workers taking the yellow copy of the provisional ballot affidavit and putting it in the envelope taped to the voting machine. Just as they do with the white slips a poll worker tears out once a voter signs the poll book, it’s a receipt for each voter, tied to each machine so the counts can be balanced. Once the poll workers became aware of their error, they looked at eachother in a confused way, then laughed about it, thinking it wasn’t a big deal. At the end of the night when they were getting all the papers in order and closing down the machines, they looked at the pile of yellow papers on the table and had no idea what to do with them.

They didn’t know what to do with that pile of papers because the yellow copy of the provisional ballot form is supposed to go to the voter, not kept by the poll worker. On both sides in capital letters it says “THE YELLOW COPY MUST GO TO THE VOTER.” Because the provisional ballot application is an affidavit, a legal document, the voter is entitled to a copy. It also has all the information about how they follow up with the Board of Elections to prove their identity and make sure their vote is counted. There’s an identification number that the BOE uses to retrieve their ballot. Without this copy, a voter doesn’t know what their number is, they may forget the details of ensuring his/her vote, like how they only have 10 days to follow up with the BOE, how to contact the BOE, or what exactly they have to provide to the BOE to prove their identity. So the fact that the poll workers at 17-E went from 6:30am-5pm without giving provisional voters this paper is a serious issue.

Now that it is known and documented, I was asked today to write up a testimony and send it to the ODP for use in upcoming legal actions. Specifically one very soon where Judge Marbley (who suspended the Absentee ID requirement) will be asked to extend the 10 day deadline for provisional voters to verify their identity.

If the ODP hadn’t assigned a poll observer there, this problem would’ve never been known. So this just goes to show how important it is for citizens to take an active roll in the democracy we claim to be so proud of. It’s our duty to hold the system and process accountable and make sure every single person’s vote is counted. As we saw a week ago, one vote can make all the difference.

How to recycle your old political yard signs

November 12, 2006 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

Everyone feels better when they recycle right? Those pesky yard signs are no exception come November 8th.

Here’s what I did:

  1. Flip the plastic inside out (mine were black on the inside)
  2. Paint desired message (I used two $1 cans of spraypaint from Family Dollar and cut stencils out of filing folders)
  3. Create a whole new (and very sophisticated) look for your yard!

Before

After

Impeach Bush Now!

Thanks to AfterDowningStreet.org for the idea!