Some Stuff on G-20

This past weekend marked the kickoff of the G20 conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Like many people I knew little of what was going on since it kicked off around a weekend (why do I get a feeling they were hoping it would be a news dump item?), and right after the Social Forum in Detroit.

At a COuncil of Candaians event last Friday, Naomi Klein offered up some vital info on the G20 and the negative things about it not often reported.

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In the past weekend, nearly 600 protestors were arrested at the G20 as Toronto was reportedly turned into a fortress to keep the delegates away from the people.

Also here's some food for thought regarding sexism amongst the G20 protestors. I do wonder how many of the people smashing shit are actually "anarchists" or undercover law enforcement posing as anarchists (before anyone thinks I'm being paranoid,

it has happened in the past

).

Regardless of ones views I have a feeling that in the weeks to come we're going to hear a lot of stories about police overreaction, abuse, and the like. Thus, it will be interesting to see how this unfolds and whether anything actually gets accomplished that helps anyone at the forum.

P.S.: Regarding police possibly posing as "anarchist" protestors, looks like there may be some proof already of it going down at the G20. Sometimes things like this make you go hmmmmm.......

New Platform, Recriminalization, Irony and Texas

Yes a lot has gone on in the last couple months but just when I was wondering on what to put in, things took a turn for the ridiculous in Texas. Yes, the new platform for the Texas Republican Party wants to make performing same sex marriages a felony.


Never mind that Texas doesn't allow same sex marriages anyway, if the Texas GOP had their way preforming them would be a felony. It would also mandate jail time for straight people who abet a same sex marriage. All of this for something that can't be performed there now.

Between this and their stance to recriminalize sodomy, it seems the conservatives are more hellbent than ever in taking the culture war into full bully mode. Other stances on the platform is forcing women who want abortions to have sonograms beforehand and a measure to change birthright citizenship to include only those people born in this country to a citizen.

Granted many people will see this platform as throwing meat to their base. Several of the measures here would require changing the Constitution (the 14th amendment has been interpreted to mean if you're born in the U.S. you're a citizen) and Supreme Court precedent (in 2003, the Supreme Court ruled state anti sodomy laws unconstitutional) to force the country to be just like the far right in Texas want it to be. When you consider that, in order to achieve these goals (which also include banning oral sex, anal sex, and strip clubs), Federal law would have to be changed to suit these people's desires, then it should be scary regardless of where you live.

So what are the chances of this happening at the moment? While I can't be certain, I don't think it's likely. If the more extreme measures of this were made law, a court would most likely block it or it would be ruled unconstitutional. It does show just how the fangs of these people are coming out. They don't simply want to abide by the constitution but to make us all play by their interpretation of it.

Am I the only person who finds it ironic that the party that wants less government interference wants a large interventionist government when it comes to a woman's body or what people do in their private lives?

I have a feeling I'll be looking into this more in the print issue.

Checking Back In

I know it's been a while since I posted last. The past month or two has been hectic in way too many ways between a death in the family (and all the dealing with grief that comes with it), the 100th Issue Show, and a short term job that kept me busier than expected near the end. As such I hadn't been posting on here as much as I used to.

I'm trying to change that and get more on the ball in the near future. However, things might occasionally slip through the cracks. For now, its time to get back to this.