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You’ll All Pay #16

© 2004 Joe Conat

On March 25th the Senate was busy as beavers. They moved to (but as yet have not passed) recognize President Ronald Reagan’s 93rd birthday. (Little late, guys? It was in February.) They moved (but again, have not passed) a House Resolution to designate a post office in Stuttgart, Arkansas the “Lloyd L. Burke Post Office”.

What else?

Oh, they passed yet another resolution in their bizarre efforts to further criminalize abortion.

H.R. 1997 a.k.a. the “Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2003” or “Laci and Conner’s Law”, after well-reported murder victim Laci Peterson and her unborn son, passed the Senate with a vote of 61-38.

The act states:

`(a)(1) Whoever engages in conduct that violates any of the provisions of law listed in subsection (b) and thereby causes the death of, or bodily injury (as defined in section 1365) to, a child, who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place, is guilty of a separate offense under this section.
`(2)(A) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the punishment for that separate offense is the same as the punishment provided under Federal law for that conduct had that injury or death occurred to the unborn child’s mother.
`(B) An offense under this section does not require proof that–
`(i) the person engaging in the conduct had knowledge or should have had knowledge that the victim of the underlying offense was pregnant; or
`(ii) the defendant intended to cause the death of, or bodily injury to, the unborn child.
`(C) If the person engaging in the conduct thereby intentionally kills or attempts to kill the unborn child, that person shall instead of being punished under subparagraph (A), be punished as provided under sections 1111, 1112, and 1113 of this title for intentionally killing or attempting to kill a human being.

More disturbing, it states:

`(d) As used in this section, the term `unborn child’ means a child in utero, and the term `child in utero’ or `child, who is in utero’ means a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.’.

Now, granted, the act specifically backs away from the issue of abortion as it stands.

`(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the prosecution–
`(1) of any person for conduct relating to an abortion for which the consent of the pregnant woman, or a person authorized by law to act on her behalf, has been obtained or for which such consent is implied by law;
`(2) of any person for any medical treatment of the pregnant woman or her unborn child; or
`(3) of any woman with respect to her unborn child.

But that’s assuming Roe v. Wade weathers the crapstorm being thrown at it and isn’t overturned. If it is, and abortion becomes a federal crime, well…it could be construed that this act allows the prosecution of the doctor and possibly the mother of the unborn child for murder.

Murder.

“We respect LIFE above all things!” the administration cries. “LIFE of the unborn child!”

But not the life of the mother. Certainly not the quality of the life of the mother. So far as I know there has been no effort to legally mitigate the terms of the recent spate of anti-abortion regulations being proposed. Are there provisions for “If the mother and/or child will die if the child is brought to term”? Or “if the unborn child is the product of incest or rape”? There was a big tussle over those issues a while ago, but I haven’t heard anything lately. And, given the complete lack of fanfare that allowed “Laci and Conner’s Law” to slip past us, are we sure that they haven’t already addressed that issue in the negative?

“We respect LIFE!”

But not privacy.

In a show of what I can only assume is cowardice, a Manhattan federal judge ordered New York-Presbyterian Hospital to accede to the demands of Attorney General Ashcroft and hand over the privileged medical documents related to partial-birth abortions he subpoenaed. Another stalwart and brave judicial bench-holder order the University of Michigan Health System to hand their records over as well.

While the government claims that it needs the records to determine whether partial-birth abortions are ever medically necessary and defend itself against a lawsuit to strike down the Partial-Birth Abortion Act, it feels like intimidation from on high. Doctors, it seems, can’t be trusted to make those decisions themselves, and the women who had this procedure must now have their names read to the government. Privacy, we have been assured, will be protected; there’s no reason to release the patients’ names or information to the public. There will be no leaks.

Tell that to Valerie Plame.

“We respect LIFE! So long as you live it OUR WAY!”

To further show their respect for life…especially lived “our way”…the U.S. is maneuvering to stay in Iraq another year and a half, at least.

June 30th is the deadline for the Iraqi people to have their provisional government in place. It has been widely assumed that after June 30th the security of Iraq would revert to the Iraqis, and just maybe our troops could stop getting slaughtered by rocket-propelled grenades as they drove down the road. But suddenly, we don’t think so…it’s being argued that U.N. Resolution 1511 (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) doesn’t really mean what it’s been assumed it means.

The resolution says:

13. Determines that the provision of security and stability is essential to the
successful completion of the political process as outlined in paragraph 7 above and
to the ability of the United Nations to contribute effectively to that process and the
implementation of resolution 1483 (2003), and authorizes a multinational force
under unified command to take all necessary measures to contribute to the
maintenance of security and stability in Iraq, including for the purpose of ensuring
necessary conditions for the implementation of the timetable and programme as well
as to contribute to the security of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq,
the Governing Council of Iraq and other institutions of the Iraqi interim
administration, and key humanitarian and economic infrastructure;

14. Urges Member States to contribute assistance under this United Nations
mandate, including military forces, to the multinational force referred to in
paragraph 13 above;

15. Decides that the Council shall review the requirements and mission of the
multinational force referred to in paragraph 13 above not later than one year from
the date of this resolution, and that in any case the mandate of the force shall expire upon the completion of the political process as described in paragraphs 4 through 7 and 10 above, and expresses readiness to consider on that occasion any future need for the continuation of the multinational force, taking into account the views of an internationally recognized, representative government of Iraq; (bold emphasis added)

What do the cited paragraphs say?

4. Determines that the Governing Council and its ministers are the principal
bodies of the Iraqi interim administration, which, without prejudice to its further
evolution, embodies the sovereignty of the State of Iraq during the transitional
period until an internationally recognized, representative government is established and assumes the responsibilities of the [Coalition Provisional] Authority; (bold emphasis added again)

5. Affirms that the administration of Iraq will be progressively undertaken
by the evolving structures of the Iraqi interim administration;

6. Calls upon the Authority, in this context, to return governing responsibilities and authorities to the people of Iraq as soon as practicable and requests the Authority, in cooperation as appropriate with the Governing Council and the Secretary-General, to report to the Council on the progress being made;

7. Invites the Governing Council to provide to the Security Council, for its
review, no later than 15 December 2003, in cooperation with the Authority and, as
circumstances permit, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, a
timetable and a programme for the drafting of a new constitution for Iraq and for the holding of democratic elections under that constitution;

These seem to state that the Iraqi Governing Council is in charge and represents the “sovereignty of the State of Iraq” until they come up with a more formal government and that once the Governing Council has established their government, the Coalition Provisional Authority hands the keys to them.

(Paragraph 10, cited above, refers to the U.N. lending its expertise on government forming when the Iraqis hold their constitutional conference.)

The argument boils down to this: Iraqis believe the authority of coalition forces expires on the return of sovereignty, slated for June 30th. The U.S. believes that the authority of coalition forces expires “upon the completion of the political process”, which they say is when the full Iraqi Government officially takes office…something which, in practical terms, probably can’t happen until January 2006.

To emphasize their assurance that this is, indeed, the case, L. Paul Bremer III, chief of the occupation authority, issued an executive order placing the new Iraqi armed forces under the operational control of Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, head of American and allied forces in Iraq. “All trained elements of the Iraqi armed forces shall at all times be under the operational control of the commander of coalition forces for the purpose of conducting combined operations,” it read in part.

It’s like we’re saying “Neat, you have your constitution and your country, but we have your Army.”

To us this means our men and women are not coming home anytime soon and will in all likelihood face the same hostility and attacks they are now facing for another 18 months past when we and they thought it was all gonna be over. For the Iraqis it means they are still an occupied country, government or no.

Ultimately, it means more people on both sides are going to die.

“We respect LIFE! We just don’t want to SAVE it!”

The president’s position on embryonic stem-cell research is clear. No. That’s it. Just…no. He doesn’t like it, he won’t fund it.

Scientists claim that they are ten years…TEN YEARS…from possibly curing Alzheimer’s Disease. Parkinson’s Disease. Muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, diabetes…the list goes on.

TEN. YEARS.

But they are hampered by restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research. On August 9, 2001, claiming to know the will of God, Bush announced his plan in regard to stem-cell research. No federal money would go into research involving embryos destroyed after that date. He claimed that with the already harvested cells on hand, scientists had more than 60 genetically diverse stem cell lines to play with.

But he was wrong. Of those 60 only a handful are any good. Right now about 15 genetic lines are available for research under federal guidelines.

In the meantime scientists from overseas and privately-funded scientists are making massive strides in stem-cell research. Which means other governments and private corporations will control the fruits of that research.

You think prescription drugs are expensive? Try paying for a line of therapy designed to cure muscular dystrophy using genetically modified cells. It’s a guarantee that that won’t be covered by your insurance and the government will not, under George W. “Moses” Bush, support it.

And how many will die untreated and in pain?

“We respect LIFE! Until it’s funny!”

But to truly show the respect that our administration, and particularly President Bush has for life, let’s turn to his presentation at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association’s 60th annual dinner.

Traditionally the Association invites presidents and politicians to speak at the dinner and make deprecating jokes about themselves. Wednesday, Bush showed a slide show presentation that included a picture of him looking unde his desk in the Oval Office with his commentary “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!” Another had him peering out a window while he said “Nope…no WMDs over here, either!”

Har. Har. Har.

Nearly 600 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. 450 of those were after Bush declared the “end of combat” on May 1, 2003. Our primary reasoning for going to war was the finding and destruction of Iraq’s WMDs and WMD manufacturing programs.

We haven’t found them.

Real friggin’ funny, Bush.

Please, let’s make light of the fact that 600 American men and women won’t be coming home to their families and friends because of an ill-considered invasion based on entirely false premises. Let’s yuk it up at the expense of those who have suffered the most for what is arguably the least.

Are you havin’ fun, Mr. President?

“We respect life.”

You’ll All Pay is written by Joe Conat. You can tell him to shut up here. He won’t listen, but what the hell right?

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You’ll All Pay #15

© Joe Conat 2004

I decided at the time not to jump on the Janet Jackson “BOOBIE! AAAIEEEE!!” train. It was a dumb issue and I wanted it to go the hell away.

But these days, with the phrase “post-Janet-Jackson” being flung about even more than the phrase “post-9/11”, I think it’s time to acknowledge the completely friggin’ ludicrousness of the whole thing.

Look, I swear. I swear like a longshoreman. I swear like an aircraft carrier full of sailors who all just hit their thumbs with hammers simultaneously. Yes, even the admiral. I curse long and fluently and as creatively as possible. Invective is my canvas, crudeness my paint, yadda yadda.

If you look back on my earlier You’ll All Pays you’ll see some strong language. I was advised that perhaps what I had to say would reach a wider audience if I refrained from such blue verbiage.

Right now I just want to say…something the FCC evidently won’t let me say…to that.

Why do I bring up the FCC? I mean, this is on the Internet, so far not controlled or patrolled by the FCC and not bound by their definitions of decency. Just check your Junk E-mail box, you don’t believe me.

Why? Because of National Public Radio.

I must admit I’d never heard of Sandra Tsing Loh until recently. I may’ve caught her “The Loh Life” commentaries on NPR once or twice and never registered the author. I listen to NPR for news, baby, grist for my mill, and really could give a rat’s behind about most of their commentators. They are, for the most part, useless breathy neo-hippies, the ultimate hybrid between love-child yearning for peace and ecological eden and yuppie sell-out pretension whores. Commentator? my brain notes, and tunes out, waiting to hear what’s really going on in the world.

So I didn’t catch it when Ms. Loh let the dreaded “F-word” slip into her commentary one morning.

As the story goes, Loh’s pre-recorded segment included that perfect word, my very personal favorite word. Loh launched an F-bomb with the intent it would be bleeped before it aired. Her engineer screwed up, the bleeping didn’t happen and the piece aired once or twice before management caught it. In a typically fair and balanced response they immediately fired Ms. Loh.

No reprimand, no warning. They fired her.

Now, the FCC wasn’t even involved. You may know that the FCC is proposing to increase the statutory maximum fine for indecent or obscene broadcast from $27,500 per incident to “ten-fold” that amount, according to a letter (requires Adobe Reader) to the National Association of Broadcasters from FCC Chairman Michael Powell. H.R. 3717, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, allowing just this, has been passed by Congress. $275,000 per station per incident (some people say it might even go up to half a million bucks per) so’s little Scout and Kimberly can’t hear on the radio what they no doubt hear four and a half dozen times on the playground and from their parents.

But in this case, NPR member-station KCRW, from which station Loh was fired, received no complaint from the FCC, no warning. It appears to be an hysterical over-reaction, a pre-emptive termination to avoid repercussion from soft-bellied liberal soccer moms who barely remember when that particular word was probably every third word they uttered in college.

I don’t understand the New Puritanism that’s sweeping the country and terrorizing the media. So we saw a boob…one of the first things most of us saw upon birth was a boob, and we were sure as hell happy to see it then. (And, lemme tell ya, at the Super Bowl party I was at, you didn’t hear anyone exclaiming in shock and scandalized horror. Hell no! Even the women were drunkenly howling “YeeeeeHAW! Titty!”) Howard Stern has been a foul-mouthed ass for years, why is it now that Clear Channel decided to cut him from all those stations? Did it really take the FCC two and a half years to decide that “Bubba the Love Sponge”s segments were indecent and offensive, or was the timing right to hit Clear Channel with three quarters of a million bucks worth of fines?

This is all namby-pamby crap. In a time with real issues…thieves and liars in control of the government, federal marginalization of the citizenry, a deficit so far down the toilet the Roto-Rooter guy’s goin’ “Yeah, I’m gonna need the really big snake”…in a time where American soldiers are dying daily in faraway lands…do we really give a crap about the occasional slip of the tongue or outre behavior on the radio?

Vote with your dial, people! Something offends you, turn the effin’ channel already! These things thrive with attention. You want to prove you’re above it? Don’t scream and cry that somebody got scatological during drive-time. Change the station.

And station and network owners…lighten the hell up. You got a few complaints. Apologize and move on with your lives. Demanding multiple apologies from Janet Jackson, shutting down Howard Stern, kicking Sandra Loh off the air…it’s stupid and doesn’t solve the problem. The problem isn’t that “nobody wants to hear/see that stuff”. The problem is that people do want to see and hear that stuff. Have you checked the figures for the porn industry? Billions! The problem is they do want to see that stuff, but they’re embarrassed to admit it.

NPR eventually offered Sandra Tsing Loh her job back, after enough public outcry. Ms. Loh refused. I don’t blame her. I mean, aside from KCRW General Manager Ruth Seymour’s reported exhortation that Loh “get some help”, plus telling the L.A. Times (in reference to Loh’s firing) “We really are serious with her, that with such a trivial, self-serving piece, she put us all in danger.”…have you ever heard Seymour speak during their pledge drives? Yo, Ruth…wipe your mouth, I can hear the spit. Better off, don’t talk. Most annoying voice on radio. Don’t try to extemporize, you don’t have the wit for it. If I’d had the money, I’d’ve pledged $10,000 if you promised never to talk ever again.

Okay, that last part was mean and off-topic. But, damn…I HATE pledge time for KCRW! I mean her voice drives me friggin’ nuts! If I had to work with that, I’d curse too.

And America would fear me for it. Fear me! SHIVER BEFORE THE F-BOMB! QUAIL BEFORE THE BOOBIE!

[bleep]in’ wusses.

You’ll All Pay is written by Joe Conat. You can tell him to shut up here. He won’t listen, but what the hell right?

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You’ll All Pay #14

© Joe Conat 2004

It doesn’t seem like it. I wouldn’t be the first to point out that, on paper, “Wonderfalls” (Fridays at 9 on Fox) sounds awfully close to “Joan of Arcadia” or even “Tru Calling”. Cute girl called upon by inscrutable mystic forces to right wrongs blah dee blah.

Boyo…that’s about where the similarities end.

Get ready for TV that doesn’t assume you’re dumber than a box of hair. TV that recognizes that you can handle a better-than-eighth-grade vocabulary and intricate plots that take their sweet time getting where they’re going and leave you guessing until they get there.

Be prepared for a show that assumes you’re tough enough to take a heroine that’s barely sympathetic…in fact, it could be argued that Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas) is so unsympathetic that she comes back around to sympathetic. Snarky to the point of being self-destructive, so brooding and narcissistic she threatens to become a black hole of self-centeredness, Jaye, as portrayed by Dhavernas, is still somehow completely endearing. Something Jaye would probably snarl at, should it be brought to her attention. Self-described as “over-educated and unemployable”, Jaye works at Wonderfalls, a crappy tourist trap souvenir shop in Niagara Falls. So deep and uncontainable is her loathing for all humanity, and especially the patrons of her store, she is passed over for promotion in favor of a zit-encrusted vacant-eyed “mouth breather” because she cannot work and play well with others.

Jaye makes one of the unlikeliest of heroines. She is not drawn to acts of charity. She is not an innate do-gooder. It takes the urgings of a talking wax lion and brass monkey bookend…such urgings being mainly singing at the tops of their lungs through the night…to force Jaye into clumsily helping both a cast-iron bitch of a customer whose purse was stolen and a hapless recently divorced delivery man with the nickname “Poor Bitch”.

“Poor Bitch”. Hee hee hee. I cannot get over that.

Wackiness does indeed ensue, but it’s such a bizarre series of events (including an emergency tracheotomy and a fistfight with the cast-iron bitch) that you find yourself completely engrossed and giggling along at Jaye’s discomfiture. On top of the cosmic hijinks forced on her by talking tourist crap, Jaye has to contend with her force of nature of a mother (Karen, played by Diana Scarwid), a father completely at home with blurting out such inappropriate queries of his daughter as “When was the last time you had an orgasm?” (Darrin, played by William Sadler), a brother who advocates euthanizing poor Jaye (Aaron, played by Lee Pace) and a sister who is so hurt by Jaye’s attitude over the years that her reciprocation of Jaye’s bile is reflexive and just as harsh as Jaye’s own attacks (Sharon, played by Katie Finneran).

All that I have described is about half the show. I haven’t touched on the potential love interest (Eric, played by Tyron Leitso), or the best friend/drinking buddy (Mahandra, played by Tracie Thomas).

It’s smart writing, kids, and it’s not ashamed of it. It’s smart writing that doesn’t have to trumpet it’s sparkle and erudition ala “The West Wing”. The writers assume you have the brains God gave a chimp and run with their story full of assurance that you can keep up.

And that is soooo refreshing. In a TV wasteland where “The Littlest Groom” will probably be a stunning hit and “Friends” has to hammer a joke so hard and so often because they’re desperately afraid you won’t get it, it’s nice to have a team that gives you a show that doesn’t treat you like a lobotomized prawn. It doesn’t dare you…it invites you with arms wide open to join the fun, secure in the knowledge that you’re perfectly capable of doing so.

I know, I know…I’m repeating myself. Look, I often lament the state of television. So locked into the need for advertiser dollars, the networks pander to the absolute lowest common denominator they can find. (I imagine network board meetings go something like this: “We need to find the most common life-form on the planet, people! We need those commercial numbers!” “Bacteria and fungi are pretty common, sir.” “Excellent. Program for pond scum! Call Budweiser!”) Anything above that level is considered “niche” and the norm is that shows like that have the plug pulled on them faster than a vegetative billionaire with a DNR once the will is found.

“Wonderfalls” is not high drama and doesn’t pretend to be. It’s not low comedy, either. It’s good storytelling for the sake of good storytelling and it deserves recognition for that. Excellence in the practice of a craft is rare. And like most things rare, it’s a joy to find.

And these days, it’s also completely different.

“Wonderfalls”, children. “Wonderfalls”. Fridays at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on Fox. Check your local listings. Check them right now. Plus, the first show is being re-aired Thursday. Check for that. TiVo it, tape it, watch it.

Surrender to Destiny.

You’ll All Pay #13

© Joe Conat 2004

The earth is round. We all agree on this, right? If a ship’s coming at you from over the horizon, you see its mast first, then the rest is slowly exposed as the ship draws nearer. This strongly indicates a curvature. Like on a globe. Right? RIGHT?!

The earth rotates around the sun, not vice versa. Right?

The President of the United States of America may not be too sure about that.

Okay, that’s mildly unfair. I’m sure the frat boy in the Oval Office is passingly aware of knowledge that’s been around for hundreds of years. He accepts it like he accepts the sky is blue, that water is wet, that he stole the 2000 election. As fact.

We can’t count on him accepting much more than that, scientifically speaking.

Like the Inquisition, Bush seems dead set on stifling scientific information that doesn’t agree with or contradicts his worldview, no matter how compelling that information may be.

From revised EPA reports on the breathability of Manhattan’s air following the 9/11 attacks, to the effects of Arctic drilling on caribou populations and on to reproductive health issues the Bush administration has repeatedly altered data, stacked its committees with industry-biased or ideologically biased “experts”, or flat out denied or removed scientific advisors.

Why? To line pockets, naturally.

This tendency has far-reaching implications. Beyond the threat to the environment, Bush’s policy of denial endangers human lives.

Take Kentucky. In October 2000 300-million tons of coal slurry broke from its containment, choking and poisoning 100 miles of rivers and creeks and, incidentally, fouling the drinking water for seventeen communities. To date no one has died, but a lot of people got sick from drinking the contaminated water.

This slurry was a by-product of mountaintop strip mining, a “cost effective” procedure for coal mining companies because it requires less human labor and increases profits. A federal team of geodesic engineers was appointed to investigate the causes of the spill.

In January 2001 George W. Bush was inaugurated. That very day the head of the team of investigators was fired. More firings followed. Replacements for the now-unemployed investigators overwhelmingly came from…can you guess? The coal industry.

The new team eventually signed off on a diluted report that protected the safety and viability of mountaintop mining. The directives set forth by the report all seem to focus on “prompt and thorough review” of slurry containment plans and “streamlining safety directives”. There will also be a new handbook. In other words, let’s make the the paperwork a bit harsher.

Let’s not talk about not finding new and safer ways to mine coal. That would cost money.

Directly after 9/11 the EPA issued a series of press releases assuring Manhattanites that the air they breathed contained low or no amount of asbestos dust. This, it turns out, was a lie. More than 25% of the samples collected by the EPA during the period between Sept. 13, 2001 and Sept. 18, 2001 contained more than 1% asbestos, the safety benchmark for air quality. Other studies by the University of California, Davis showed “extremely high amounts” of airborne particulates. The health impact of these particulates can be long term, especially the very fine particulates which are carried away from the lungs by the bloodstream.

In August 2003 the EPA’s Inspector General Office released a report stating that “when EPA made a September 18 announcement that the air was “safe” to breathe, it did not have sufficient data and analyses to make such a blanket statement…Furthermore, The White House Council on Environmental Quality influenced, through the collaboration process, the information that EPA communicated to the public through its early press releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones.”

Breathe deep the gathering gloom, my friends.

In response to this ongoing policy of fabrication, denial and suppression, the Union of Concerned Scientists released their “Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An Investigation into the Bush Administration’s Misuse of Science”. This group includes Nobel-laureates, scientific leaders and is, by the way, bi-partisan.

The White House’s response was that the scientists’ expression of concern was a “conspiracy report”.

And, of course, there were the multiple inspectors who repeatedly told the White House they could not…could NOT…find any weapons of mass destruction, nor the means to manufacture them.

Why are we surprised, really? In an administration where the Education Secretary calls teachers “terrorists”, are we really all that shocked that the norm in Bush’s White House is a fear of intelligentsia and a hearkening for ignorance at the expense of all but the super-rich? Is it any shock that scientific data that would cast aspersions on Halliburton for its ground-water poisoning hydraulic fracture oil and gas extraction processes is suppressed or ridiculed? Not when Halliburton’s former chief is Vice President and Halliburton kicks $58 million bucks to the GOP, no.

The upshot of all this is that George W. Bush is selling your health and safety to the highest bidders and doesn’t want you to know about it. He doesn’t want anybody to know about it and when confronted with that information he mulishly shakes his head and juts out his lower lip and says “Uh-uh!” like a four-year-old child. It’s a game of “I’m rubber and you’re glue” and that, folks, is the Commander in Chief of the most powerful military force in history. Looking at it that way, I’m surprised he didn’t issue a statement directed at Osama bin Laden on September 12, 2001 saying “Missed me! Uh-uh! Missed! Did too! Missed me!” so complete is his delusion and denial.

I was reminded last night of the probably apocryphal story of Galileo. Forced to recant his statement that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not vice versa, he was sentenced to a life under house arrest . Rising from his knees after hearing the Inquisition’s proclamation he is said to have muttered “Eppur si muove.” “But still it moves.”

I love that story. Having been slapped in the face by dogmatic denial of fact, having accepted their authority over his life, there was still a spark of integrity in the man that forced him to recant his recantation, though nobody heard.

We can’t afford to mutter. We must shout our “Eppur si muove” loudly and over and over again, screaming into the face of smug ignorance until its moronic blathering is drowned out. We have to force Bush to face the facts and act in accordance with them.

The Earth moves around the Sun. Mountaintop mining needs better safety regulation; in fact the process should be reviewed for viability entirely. The air in Manhattan was not safe to breathe after 9/11.

Listen to the facts.

But still it moves.

“You’ll All Pay” is written by Joe Conat. You can tell him to shut up here. He won’t listen, but what the hell, right?