mjh's blog

The Informed Debate

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor

RE: “GOVERNMENT SHOULD Not Set Wages” column by John Dendahl

…. American capitalism has a long history of human exploitation. Dendahl seems not to understand that capitalism is an economic system that exists within, and is subservient to, our political system of representative democracy. Politics is about people. Economics is about generating wealth. Capitalism is a good economic system for generating wealth but a lousy one for distributing it.

When wealth is not distributed, that is when wealth — and, along with it, power — are allowed to concentrate in the hands of a few, you get an oligarchy. When our government sets wages, it is acting to prevent the concentration of wealth and power and thereby is preserving our representative democracy. That is not only government’s prerogative, it is government’s duty. …

ANNE KASS
Albuquerque

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor

If this thing passed, the bottom line would be that businesses would raise prices enough to cover it and then everyone pays more. Communism failed in the Soviet Union and now even China is leaning toward capitalism to revive its economy. Why some people are trying to revive communism in America is a mystery to me. …

I may not be correct about what the answer to this problem is, but I am sure I know what it is not. It is not to rob people who educated themselves and got a good job to give money to those who did not have time to get an education and become a viable and desirable job seeker.

DANNY OLIVAS
Albuquerque

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Party in the Woods

For the weekend, a dozen of us trekked to a sweet little spot I’d visited the week before. The place is called Resumidero and we all loved it on first sight. It is a long, flat meadow between two rushing streams, surrounded by dense woods on the edge of the San Pedro Parks Wilderness. It was perfect — up until it was ruined. But I get ahead of myself. …

Ah, Wilderness!: San Pedro Parks Wilderness Birthday Trip

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United States is leading the way

Inmates Alleged Koran Abuse

One prisoner said in August 2002 that guards had “flushed a Koran in the toilet” and had beaten some detainees.

But the Pentagon said yesterday that the same prisoner, who is still in custody, was reinterviewed on May 14 and “did not corroborate” his earlier claim about the Koran.

Three years in Guantanamo might affect someone’s memory — or his willingness to anger his captors.

What exactly is America getting out of Guantanamo? mjh

Amnesty International released a report calling Guantanamo Bay “the gulag of our time” and labeling the United States “a leading purveyor and practitioner” of torture and mistreatment of prisoners. Amnesty and the Constitution Project, a legal advocacy group, made separate demands yesterday for an independent investigation into allegations of detainee abuse at U.S. facilities. …

“The refusal of the U.S. government to conduct a truly independent investigation into the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and other detention centers is tantamount to a whitewash, if not a coverup, of these disgraceful crimes,” [Executive Director William F. Schulz, Amnesty International]….

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said: “The allegations are ridiculous and unsupported by the facts. The United States is leading the way when it comes to protecting human rights and promoting human dignity.”

[mjh: Well, McClellan's word is all I need.]

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Flag Desecration Amendment

American Civil Liberties Union:

For more than a decade, numerous members of Congress have tried to amend the U.S. Constitution to give the government the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the American flag. We have fought back hard with coalitions of veterans, religious leaders and other Americans who believe that such a constitutional amendment would undermine the very principles for which the American flag stands.

Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has strongly opposed the proposed amendment. “The First Amendment exists to insure that freedom of speech and expression applies not just to that with which we agree or disagree, but also that which we find outrageous,” he said. “I would not amend that great shield of democracy to hammer a few miscreants. The flag will be flying proudly long after they have slunk away.”

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Turning 50

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Fan Mail

From your blog:
>Q: Who do you think you are?
>A: I’m Mark Justice Hinton. Read every word to learn more about me.

Well Mark, I have. Hmmm, another left-over sixties activist still hiding out hoping the revolution will still come.

Regards,
MR

Odds are that your grandparents didn’t go to college, or that your grandfather did and your grandmother didn’t. Surely, your grandfather had a job outside the home and more than likely your grandmother did not. Now, you probably don’t know anyone who can’t get an education or hope for any career they choose.

You probably don’t know anyone who died of a botched illegal abortion.

You probably know someone who is gay and open about it. Someday, the brutal murders of people like Matthew Sheppard will seem as ancient as the common public lynchings of blacks barely a generation ago.

You’ve never seen a Whites Only sign except in a museum or history book.

Chances are good that some female or person of color has rank over you professionally. That didn’t happen 40 years ago. Everywhere you go, people who are not exactly like you have exactly the same freedom. It hasn’t always been so.

I don’t know why you disdain me, but I’m especially puzzled by your confusion: there was a successful revolution — it changed everything for millions of people. I’m not waiting for that, just for the final passing of reactionaries who think tax cuts for the rich are as great an accomplishment. mjh

PS: Thanks for reading every word I’ve written.

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Let Grow

I like the simplest definition of a weed: a plant you don’t want growing where it grows.

My wife, Merri, is not only a great gardener, she is also a great weeder. I lack the energy. I think, hell, if it made it there, give it a chance. Almost anything is preferable to the zero-scape of gravel.

So, perhaps I’m the only person in Albuquerque who enjoyed the lush mustard growth brought on by extra rain (some call it London Rocket, a very odd name). I thought it was quite pretty.

Sure, I understand there are genuinely noxious plants, like the beautiful-until-it’s-too-late foxtail, the goatheads, and the water-sucking tamarisk. I understand the “exotics,” the imports, can completely overrun the natives, but we do that ourselves as people — who are we to judge the weeds. Ripping out what grows naturally seems futile. Try leaving something alone now and then. mjh

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