My thoughts on politics, foreign policy, sports, America, and anything else I come up with.

 
Free Mike Hawash!

From Warblogging:

Twelve days ago (3/20/03) Maher (Mike) Hawash, an American citizen, was "detained" as a "material witness" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Joint Terrorism Task Force near his car at Intel Corporation's Hawthorne Farms parking lot. Even as FBI agents slapped the handcuffs on Mr. Hawash more agents in full battle gear carrying assault rifles woke Mr. Hawash's wife, Lisa, and their three children. The FBI agents then proceeded to search their home.

Since that Thursday Mike Hawash has been held at a federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon.

Mike has not been charged with a crime and all of the evidence used against him has been sealed by a federal court at the request of the Department of Justice. He will not be judged by a jury of his peers. He as not even been accused of doing anything wrong. He is being detained based on a twisted application of the material wtiness statute, which was originally intended for use to prevent witnesses to a crime from fleeing to avoid testifying in court.

Mr. Hawash worked as a software designer at Intel Corporation. He coauthored a book on multimedia programming for the Intel platform. His former boss, a former Vice President at Intel, mantains Free Mike Hawash, a Web site devoted to informing people of Mike's plight.

The Department of Justice refuses even to say that anyone was arrested in the raids conducted eleven days ago. They refuse to say anything, in fact, about Mr. Hawash except that there is an "ongoing investigation".

So far all we know — all that anyone knows, it would seem — is that Mike Hawash made some donations to the Global Relief Foundation, an organisation that has been shut down by the US Treasury Department for supporting terrorism. One of Global Relief's founders is in federal custody in Michigan after a judge ruled he was "an associate of terrorists."

Mike apparently made two donations to Global Relief Foundation, both for about $5,000. As a consultant to Intel Corporation he could presumably afford it. "The organization is legit," he said. "We believed that they are doing good work. It's a well-known organization," Mike had said about his donations.

Mr. Hawash is now being held without charge by the United States Government. They haven't even bothered to accuse him of a crime. Call your senator, call your congrsesman. Tell them that this will not stand. Tell them that it is unacceptable that the United States would treat its citizens like this. Tell them that they should do one of the following:

• Charge Mr. Hawash with a crime,



• Have Mr. Hawash testify in court as a material witness as quickly as possible, or



• Release Mr. Hawash.

The Department of Justice has publicly said that it is using material witness warrants to hold people it suspects of being terrorists when it cannot gather enough evidence for an indictment. Such abuses are un-American.

Mike Hawash is one of us. He is an American who just happens to be Muslim and of Middle Eastern descent. The authorities have in no way proved that Mr. Hawash has committed any crime or that he is a flight risk. They have, by all appearances, simply snatched him up and put him in jail.

Posted by Brian Adams at 11:59 | Permalink | |

 
To those folks out there furious at President Bush, be patient, the election is only 19 months away. Cut this silly "Impeach Bush Now" shit out.

The impeachment of Bill Clinton was utter bullshit. And I don't want to see that happen again for a long time, outside of definitive on-the-job malfeasance. I just don't think President Bush has committed any "high crimes and misdemeanors." Outside of something concrete, if we started trying to impeach every President we didn't agree with, we'd be no better than some third-world nation as far as being a constitutional republic.

Democrats and others on the left need to get over: 1) the 2000 election, 2) the impeachment of Bill Clinton, and 3) antiwar arguments now that the war has started. On the last point, I mean seriously, do you want us to simply withdraw from Iraq and send the inspectors back in? We have already done the harm to our international stature. Now that we started this moronic war, if we simply pull out, we'll look like we have no follow through (which we don't, see Afghanistan). No other nation would pay attention to anything we have to say.

We're in a shitty situation. This war should never have been. But now that it's started, we have to finish it.

And George W. Bush should never have become President. In a Republican move to remove felons from the voter registration rolls, the removal of thousands of non-felons alone pushed the result to what it was, a statistical tie. With those non-felons still able to vote, many of them black, Gore would have won without a recount at all.

But we need to move on. That fight is over. We must put all our efforts into uniting the entire left, Gore voters, Nader voters, antiwar folks, civil libertarians...and get behind the Democratic nominee. And we'll knock George W. Bush the fuck out!

Posted by Brian Adams at 18:26 | Permalink | |

 
"Everything changed on September 11th."

The next person who says that within earshot of me is getting a punch in the fucking mouth! I don't care if it's the guy at the end of the bar, the old lady down the street, or even my Congressman, they'd better duck!

Posted by Brian Adams at 00:11 | Permalink | |

 
We've really split into two polarized camps in this country. On one side you have the middle-right to conservative crowd, most of whom support the president, are in favor of the war, and think this country's doing just fine. On the other side you have the middle-left to liberal bunch, most of whom oppose the president, are against the war in Iraq, and think we're headed way off the tracks in America.

Open-mindedness is in short supply on both sides of the aisle. The left sees anything the government says as propaganda and/or an outright lie. The right paints any opposition to the Bush administration on the war as un-American. The left says that all those in support of the president's position on Iraq are brainless dolts who have given up on critical thinking. The right says the antiwar movement is being led by far-left communist forces who have the overthrow of the government as their true objective. There is no thoughtful communication between these opposing camps, and even if there were no on would listen.

Americans on both sides need to learn to think for themselves. It would suck ass, but I think a catastrophic war might help that along. There's a selfish part of me that wants us to go to war in Iraq, and for it to go horribly for us with lots of American casualties. It's not so much so that Bush will get booted from office in 2004, as for Americans to get more involved in politics and in advocating policies our government should take. And of course, they might stop and think who should be bringing forth these policies in government, and actually vote in elections. A good ol' cockpunch to Uncle Sam in the desert could serve as a nice wakeup call. Like I said, that's a small selfish part of me.

Posted by Brian Adams at 23:48 | Permalink | |

 
As far as the war goes, I’m almost to the point where I just want them to get it started already. A bit fatalist I guess. I know it’s going to happen, and the waiting is getting on my nerves. Although everything that happens in opposition is still important. Even when you cannot stop a new chapter from being written in history, you must still make your imprint. The record will show that these millions who have marched around the world stood in opposition to this preemptive war. America was not united behind President Bush, Great Britain was heavily opposed to Prime Minister Blair, and a large number of the other industrialized nations of the world opposed it. It will also be more easily seen in the future looking back on these two years how the Bush administration created fear amongst the populace to further their ambitions of war, of conquest, of revenge. We will look back in horror at how the Congress of the United States rolled over when challenged by the executive branch, and see how the judicial branch did nothing to oppose laws that were patently unconstitutional.

The 2004 presidential election could be the most important vote that we shall see in our entire lives. This country is being led down a dangerous road by our president, a road that military-minded men behind him have wanted to travel ever since the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Far too many Americans have allowed their emotions to be churned up by the fear-mongering of Tom Ridge and John Ashcroft. They need to shake themselves free of that paralyzing fear and unquestioning compliance. They need to make a choice about where this nation should head. Campaigning politicians always say we are at a crossroads. Well, they are right on this time.

The youngest demographic still only voted at roughly 20% in the 2000 presidential election. If the 18-24 year-olds decided that they needed to change America’s course, they could do it all by themselves. They have such untapped electoral power. All the whining you hear from young people about politicians not caring what they say or want; why should they care? If you’ve decided you don’t care what your government does, that’s fine. Just don’t come complaining to me. Get your ass to the polls or shut the fuck up!

The left/liberal side of the electorate has to unite behind a candidate this time around, and yes, it probably will have to be the Democratic candidate. Yes, the political and electoral system is tremendously messed up. And the Democratic Party has deserted a lot of the liberal causes that many of us hold dear. But we have to put all that aside this time. George W. Bush cannot be allowed to serve another term as our president. And all those opposed to him and his administration must unite and do everything that each person can to see that Bush is defeated. The United States of America must have regime change!

Posted by Brian Adams at 01:49 | Permalink | |

 
Well, I have lots of things I need to get off my chest here. I'm glad my friend directed me to this site, as its a great place for all my ramblings and manifestos. And I do have come manifestos brewing. The war in Iraq, North Korea, the attack on civil liberties in America...even baseball.

Yes, I used to live and die with baseball. I loved playing it more than any other sport. Hell, it was the only one I was ever good at. I was a pretty good hitter, if I don't say so myself. The hardest thing to do in sports is hit a fast-pitch baseball. But I have lost interest in the professional form of America's pasttime. The inequities between the big-market and small-market teams, the inflation of offense and lack of good defense, and the sheer ineptitude of my local team, the Milwaukee Brewers, have all led to me not really caring about it anymore. And I find that sad. For if Major League Baseball loses someone like me, who grew up loving the game in every way, then professional baseball does not have a bright future.

Well, I have some organizing that I have wanted to do for quite a long time that I want to get done before I go to sleep. I have hundreds of bookmarks dealing with the War on Terror, the upcoming war in Iraq, civil liberties, etc. Time to file some away, and delete a whole bunch I don't need. Well, more tomorrow.

Posted by Brian Adams at 23:48 | Permalink | |