Gulag, "Relocation Center", whatever...

In light of Fixer's earlier post, this is a little eerie.

Seeing as how one of the purposes of our trip is to kinda scout out potential retirement places, and seeing as how W. and his 29% (and dropping!) would dearly love to "relocate" those of us who are reality-based, and indeed have prepared "illegal immigrant (wink-wink) detention centers", today me 'n Mrs. G combined the two using our finely-tuned sense of history and visited the Manzanar National Historic Site here in the Owens Valley between Independence and Lone Pine. I've driven by this place a hundred times over the last fifty years, so this trip I made it a point to stop, and I'm glad I did.

Manzanar is one of ten Relocation Centers for Japanese-Americans during World War Two, mostly in the Western states, but there were two in Arkansas. These were for people and families who were not suspected of anti-American thought or action. There were other camps for those who were under suspicion, and they were much more heavily guarded. There were ten thousand people interned there, and no one ever tried to escape although one young man was shot while gathering firewood outside the wire. He recovered.

These folks, the Issei, first generation people from Japan who were not allowed to become American citizens, and their kids, the Nisei, most of them born here, who were American citizens, were basically yanked out of their lives and sent to the camps. Many of them went home to nothing - everything had been stolen or otherwise acquired from them by their white "neighbors" - and had to start over. Some of Mrs. G's sister's schoolmates were born in the camps as there were (and still are) lots of Japanese farmers in her Central Coast hometown.

These folks made the best of a bad situation, and turned Manzanar into a veritable garden: they grew crops and planted fruit trees and lawns to gussy the joint up. There were hundreds of lawns, but only one push mower, purchased by the War Relocation Authority at the hardware store in Lone Pine. I bet there wasn't any of that "when ya gonna bring my mower back?" stuff! Owens Valley residents picked fruit from the trees for years after the camp was abandoned.

I could go on ad nauseam about these folks and Manzanar. There isn't anything left of the wood-frame-and-tarpaper barracks, which were totally inadequate for the high desert winds and hot and cold temperature extremes in the area. A few of the stone structures, made of rocks, notably a couple of guard shacks and some staff housing foundations are still there. These are all that was there when I was a kid: no signs, no park, no nothing. My dad told me what it was, but basically no one wanted to know. There is a more recently built white obelisk monument to those who rest in the camp cemetery and a brand-new reproduction guard tower right next to the highway. Fitting, I'd say.

Since the National Park Service took it over in 1986, forty years after the camp was abandoned, it has been improved as a NHS: there is an Interpretive Center, which is government-speak for a museum. There is an Auto Tour, basically a dirt road around the camp with low signs telling what was there, such as "Buddhist Temple", "Catholic Church" (in honor of the nearby mountains, I innocently asked Mrs. G if it was "Our Lady of the Slopes". She hit me.), "Camouflage Net Factory", and locations of various barracks areas, the hospital, etc. You can see all this on the Virtual Tour. Highly recommended.

The Interpretive Center is amazing. Photos, video, artifacts, explanations of life in the camp, re-creations of living quarters. There are stories of the young American men from the camp who fought like tigers in Italy, including one posthumous Medal of Honor recipient. It brought tears to my eyes more than once.

The main emotion I took away from Manzanar, however, is anger. Anger at the vile things our government can do to its own citizens in a time of xenophobic (or any other kind) fear and hatred, or any other manufactured excuse.

Anger at the fact that FDR knew this was illegal when he did it in 1942, but only admitted it two weeks after his re-election in 1944. Sound familiar? Well, it would if we had a president who ever admitted a mistake.

Anger even at Reagan, whom I never cared for much anyway. In 1981 he apologized to the remaining internees and kicked 'em down some money in "reparations". He did this right after a Federal court ruled in favor of the internees in a lawsuit charging federal wrongdoing that had been in the courts since 1945 or so. Covering the government's ass because all those folks didn't have the decency to die by the time the ruling came down.

And anger at Americans who let, nay, encouraged, such an illegal breach of the Constitution against other Americans and remained silent for years despite knowing it was so wrong.

I felt a little shame as well.

Bush is ten times as desperate and dangerous as FDR could have ever thought of being. At least FDR had a real war to deal with. If Bush and his criminal cabal have learned anything from history, it is that they can do unconscionable shit like locking up Americans for any or no reason and get away with it.

Be warned, my friends.

Looking good

Mr. H says Rove's been indicted.

Update:

More from TalkLeft.

Word

I remember reading The Gulag Archipelago when it came out. Red Angel has a timely quote, stolen in full:

"And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling in terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? [...] The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!"
-The Gulag Archipelago, A. Solzhenitsyn

I know I won't go quietly.

Okay...

WASHINGTON - Seeking a quick enforcement boost at the U.S.-Mexico border, President George Bush is set Monday to propose dispatching more National Guard troops to the region and deploying additional Defense Department equipment to thwart illegal immigration.

...

I'll bite. Tell me how you're going to swing the Guard into another rotation? Ain't most of 'em in Iraq? I know in New York, we got like 3 guys, just here to answer phones. I think the entire Fighting 69th is over there at this point. I'm sure we're not alone and other states have the same manning and equipment shortfalls. Where are you going to get the manpower? Where are you going to get the money? How much you wanna bet they try to conract border security out to Halliburton?

Update:

More on stupid border enforcement policy from the Burned Over District.

A warning

To the guy/girl who somehow got my debit card number and spent 1500 of my and my wife's hard-earned dollars all over Florida (in Wal-Marts no less). Pray the cops get ya before I do.

Every child left behind

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Not a single state will have a highly qualified teacher in every core class this school year as promised by President Bush's education law. Nine states along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico face penalties.

...

Ask Gord, us old mechanics have a saying. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Everything the Chimp tries to fix turns to shit. Time to take the tools away...

Investigations are so very rude and distasteful

Glenn Greenwald

There seems to be an emerging consensus among the coddled, effete Beltway media stars that it would be highly improper and uncouth for the Democrats -- should they take over one or both houses of Congress in November -- to launch investigations into the various, thus-far-uninvestigated lawbreaking and corruption scandals surrounding the Bush administration. Regardless of political differences -- which the Beltway media will allow -- the media stars are proclaiming that Democrats should pledge in advance not to engage in any of that nasty investigative business.

It can't possibly be the case that there are real scandals and acts of wrongdoing concealed by the impenetrable wall of secrecy the administration has built and which its zombified allies in Congress and the media have protected. Clearly, the administration has done absolutely nothing which needs to be investigated. That's obvious. The only thing that could motivate anyone to want to investigate the Bush administration is a lowly and uncouth desire for vengeance.

The reality is that people like Tim Russert and Chris Wallace are so entrenched in the national political Beltway system that it becomes the first source for how they perceive themselves. They are not journalists first. They are national Beltway stars first. As a result, they don't see high government officials as their adversaries because those high government officials are part of the same Beltway elite institutions and are their friends, partners and allies before they are anything else.

I can just hear Russert/Matthews/whomever: "Yes, they lied cheated, and stole for years, but they're good people and it would just be wrong to hold them accountable now that the foot is on their neck for a change. That wasn't supposed to happen."

You're next on the list unless you shape up, gasbags. Go read the rest of mr. Greenwald's reasoned rant.

So lemmie get this straight...

You keep a database of all my phone records...indefinitely, yet if I bought a gun at a gun show, any record of it will be destroyed after 24 hours? Am I the only one who sees something very fucked up about this?

Brainwash Central Fox News

His Highness points up the fact quite well:

...Was the 2004 election stolen? OpEdNews commissioned a Zogby poll to find out, and chances are that anyone who does not claim Fox TV as his or her primary source of news says yes:

...

Heh . . .

Remember what I said yesterday regarding the major telecom companies' crimnal conspiracy with the Chimp?

So, since we got all these sharp legal beagles on our side, how come we haven't gotten a class action suit up against the Telecoms?

...

Well, heh...

TRENTON, N.J. - Two New Jersey public interest lawyers sued Verizon Communications Inc. for $5 billion Friday, claiming the phone carrier violated privacy laws by turning over phone records to the National Security Agency for a secret government surveillance program.

...

The lawsuit asks the court to stop Verizon from turning over any more records to the NSA without a warrant or consent of the subscriber.

"This is the largest and most vast intrusion of civil liberties we've ever seen in the United States," Afran said of the NSA program.

...

I might just be an idiot mechanic, but I smell a RICO prosecution if...just say...the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York grows some balls.

A very Happy Birthday

To A Mockingbird's Medley. Mimus Pauly has been a friend of the Brain, and one of our mostest favoritest bloggers, since we opened up shop here and we love him lots in return. He's been fighting along with us for 2 years and deserves a medal for his excellent work and tenacity. Go show him some love.

Day one

We took off this morning under sunny cloudless skies, perfect temperature, not much traffic and only a couple hundred miles to drive. It was great! What could possibly go wrong? We found out after about 30 miles.

Cruising the east shore of Lake Tahoe, we started hearing sort of a 'tinkle-tankle-tunk' coming from under the truck. It sort of related to the turning of the wheels, but not quite. I found a wide spot to stop and discovered the right rear tire was flatter than a tortilla.

Mrs. G suggested I call the AAA, but I am nothing if not a macho masochist. I can change my own tire, dammit! Besides, AAA's for runnin' outta gas or something serious, like if ya ain't got a spare! I turned to, and with the aid of thirty years as a mechanic I managed to assemble the Toyota jack handle/spare tire lowerer, after first reading the owner's manual to find where they stashed all that stuff. Clever, these Japanese. Got the spare on and noticed something clunky-soundin' in the flat tire.

Now, my tires are OEM, i.e. the ones that came on the truck from the factory, so I headed to Carson City Toyota to find out what to do. They said I had to go to the BFGoodrich dealer, that there wasn't much they could do. I asked them for directions. Now, I like these guys. Normally they treat me real good, but this time those rocket scientists gave me perfect directions - to the Goodyear dealer!

I managed to find the Goodrich dealer anyway, and he told me there wasn't much of a road hazard warranty on OEM tires, and the tire was caca-poopoo. It was, too: the clunky noise was a trailer hitch pin, like is used to secure a hitch in a receiver. I watched the tire man break down the tire and remove it. When I was young and foolish, not to mention broke, I mighta booted the tire and run a tube, but not on a new rig. No reputable tire man would have repaired this one, and even I'm not crazy enough to run a couple hundred miles through the mountains with no spare so it was step up to the plate time. They didn't have the same model of tire in stock, and I didn't want to wait for one to come from Reno, so he re-mounted my spare tire from its steel wheel to my aluminum one, and put a Big O on the spare wheel.

Start (flat tire) to finish (good tire) was about two hours, and I have a nice $190 tire (including two dismounts, two mounts, two balances) that I hope will never touch the ground. I also have the world's most expensive hitch pin! What the heck, I needed one anyway.

The rest of the trip went swell, and we pulled into Bishop about dinnertime. I was beat and there's a Denny's next door. When I get hungry, I ain't picky. Besides, I like Denny's, so there!

I'm staying at the Vagabond Inn. Kind of an older joint, but clean and reasonably priced. Good amenities - coffee maker, reefer (no, not that kind, F-Man!), nuker, etc. The only glitch was getting the WiFi user name and password over the phone out of a desk clerk who sounded like he used to be a Tech Support guy in Bangalore: "'B' as in Victor, 'Ah' as in ahplle...". Works good, though.

I had hoped to describe the run down through the Eastern Sierra altiplano, but I'm beat. More later.

Please, please, please, please...

Since Gord's gone for a couple days, and the fact he's Truthout's #1 reader (he always finds excellent articles over there), I give you this in his honor:

Within the last week, Karl Rove told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials, that he will be indicted in the CIA leak case and will immediately resign his White House job when the special counsel publicly announces the charges against him, according to sources.

...

I'm thoroughly aroused hoping this is true.

Tip o' the Brain to Ted for the link.

Now you like him...

CNN poll:

...

Respondents favored Clinton by greater than 2-to-1 margins when asked who did a better job at handling the economy (63 percent Clinton, 26 percent Bush) and solving the problems of ordinary Americans (62 percent Clinton, 25 percent Bush). (Watch whether Americans are getting nostalgic for the Clinton era -- 1:57)

On foreign affairs, the margin was 56 percent to 32 percent in Clinton's favor; on taxes, it was 51 percent to 35 percent for Clinton; and on handling natural disasters, it was 51 percent to 30 percent, also favoring Clinton.

Moreover, 59 percent said Bush has done more to divide the country, while only 27 percent said Clinton had.

When asked which man was more honest as president, poll respondents were more evenly divided, with the numbers -- 46 percent Clinton to 41 percent Bush -- falling within the poll's margin of error. The same was true for a question on handling national security: 46 percent said Clinton performed better; 42 percent picked Bush

...

Dear Fellow Americans,

You could have had Al Gore for the past 5 years but you let the Rethugs snow ya. You're all a buncha idiots.

Regards,

F-man

Friday night out...

The Mrs. and I are going to the Long Island Beer Festival. I'll let you know what I found in the morning... If you're going and you see us, by all means say hello.

Update:

Well...that was the most disorganized event I've been to since I got in General Admission to The Who at Madison Square Garden in '76 or '77. The room in the Huntington Hilton was far too small for the tickets sold and one could barely move from booth to booth. That was aside from all of the 'professional' drunks, just there to drink as much as possible for the price of admission. We did manage to try some good HB from Germany before I got fed up. The bright side was all the proceeds went to the North Shore Animal League so I didn't feel bad leaving early. Next year, I'm just gonna write 'em a check and forego the beer festival. Just a note, as I sit here writing, the wife and I are enjoying a liter of Val-Dieu Triple...in the comfort of my own home.

Warning: Stupid Shit Happening

Or at least it will be next month.

Countdown to 666

Yep, things are going to get even more bizarro as the uber-xtians bang their drums waiting for the antichrist to step up to the plate on June 6, 2006.

...

Friday Cattle Dog Blogging

"Zzzzzzz...Wake me up when Fitz indicts, dad."

Adios fer a coupla days...

We're headin' out fer a few days. We're sorta looking elsewhere in the Eastern Sierra for a place to retire without so much snow. We'll headquarter in beautiful downtown Bishop and radiate around the area from there. Unfortunately, we have to miss this fine cultural happening, but only because you can't find lodging then!

I'll be checkin' in via mini-Hal, but with as much talent contributing to the Brain as there is, light to non-existent posting will be guilt-free. I'll letcha know if anyone catches a jackpot trout or somethin' exciting like that.

Check out the Sierra Nevada Webcams to see the kind of stuff we'll be up to.

See ya.

Peace Takes Courage

I still can't get over that the person responsible for this website is 15 yrs old.She was about 13 when she started.Ava has recieved death threats and nasty emails for a flash video she did entitled "WWJD?",the story hit lefty blogs not long ago.Ava soldiers on,relentlessly,and answers her "critics"with this. Man,when I was 15,I don't think I would have had the mucho huevos grandes to even think of such a project as Peace Takes Courage let alone hang in there and fight back.

When I need a good cheering up I watch this. Or this,when I feel terribly alone here in Red State Fundie Hell.

Ava is a Patriot,visit her site,show her some Love.

29%

Ha-ha! Holden gets another pony!

WSJ link via C&L.

Image thanks to Dr. Attaturk.