Guantanamo Must Go...Cont.

If you haven't read my earlier post regarding the evil that is Guantanamo Bay Prison, do so here.

This situation has gotten increasingly worse for not only the inmates but for the American people, who ultimately are affected negatively by the bad reputation this slight on human rights has caused around the globe. Whether you know it or not, you are affected by Guantanamo in multiple ways: millions of your tax dollars are being spent to run the prison as well as the useless, private military tribunals taking place; America's reputation as a country that fights for human rights and fights against torture is being warped by the double standard of Guantanamo, leaving other countries a reason to excuse their own use of torture and illegal imprisonment (i.e. why can't we do it? the U.S. is doing it!); Guantanamo impedes on our supposed moral standing and creates hostile environments around the world even more hostile for U.S. citizens.

Not to mention the elephant in the room that no one in government or elsewhere seems to be addressing
, which is that the Cuban people themselves DO NOT want this prison on their soil any longer. While the prison may be out of sight, out of mind for us, it isn't for the people who live near it or even work there for a living and have to witness the injustice that occurs daily.

Obama made us a promise in 2009 that he would make efforts to shut down the prison. Congress hindered the efforts along the way, for years and years, making the situation for the inmates more and more hopeless as they continued to linger in illegal limbo. 80 prisoners have been cleared for release, yet they have yet to be let go. To me, this is just plain negligence. Something must be done.

My petition to Congress to shut down Guantanamo has reached 78 signatures so far. The word continues to spread, all over the U.S., and even in other countries like Germany, Mexico, Canada, and Czech Republic. The whole world cares about this, and we as Americans should care, too.

Sign the petition here and help put an end to this illegal and unconstitutional madness.

Random Portrait #2: Brahms and Chopin

Thanks for tuning in for another addition of "Random Portrait"! This month's entry is a double, featuring two of my favorite composers, Johannes Brahms and Frederic Chopin.

"Hey. Trying to write symphonies after Beethoven made me go half crazy, so I went the absolutism route and wrote music without meaning. Not so sure it worked. Plus I was totally into Clara Schumann who was already married to another crazy man. So I got fat and grew an epic beard. Damn you, Beethoven!"

"Hey. My gf was a writer and tended to dress like a man. I had bad lungs and was weak most of my life, but dude did I write a crap ton of great music, including my famous 24 preludes. I'll bet you've heard Prelude No. 4 at least a thousand times. I made piano music cool in the mid-1800s. Yeah, I'm legendary."

These portraits were done by pencil by me, Marika. Feel free to share them, print them out, hang them on your bedroom wall so you can stare at them on sleepless nights... you know the drill.

Who will be the next Random Portrait? Probably whoever Marika is obsessed with by next month's addition! (My attention span is grossly limited.)

Ed Asner's Political Short Tickles My Political Fancy

Yes, I have strong opinions about politics. Who doesn't, really? It's like saying, "Confession: I have a tongue. Let me proceed to shock you with it."

Anyway, one of my political opinions is simply that absolute truth should be the absolute goal when informing the people about the state of our still fat-cheeked-burping-and-slurping-baby union. (Imagine the 50 States with a diaper covering Texas, a bow on baby-fuzz-head Alaska, and a bottle nipple stuck in the rut of Manhattan. Yerp, preeetty infantile.)

I've often thought about how exactly our country ended up on the verge of that horrifying "fiscal cliff"; or, as the anti-climax of the new year came and went, the "fiscal hill."

How, I wondered, is the gap between rich and poor getting bigger and Bigger and BIGGER? How come the formerly sturdy middle class is getting siphoned down a drain of unfortunate economic circumstances and joining the discontented ranks of the dirt poor?

And,

HOW COME NO ONE'S POINTING TO THE EVER-RICHER RICH PEOPLE WITH THEIR TOILET PAPER MADE FROM THOSE SILLY FIVE DOLLAR BILLS? I MEAN, WHO USES THOSE ANYMORE? THEY'RE PRACTICALLY LIKE THE PENNY.

Ed Asner, being the epic, sonorous-voiced man that he is, created this cartoon short about how exactly our little goo-goo-ga-ga country got to where it is. At just under 8 minutes long, it's definitely worth your time to watch. It doesn't matter if your views are right-winged or left-winged. Nobody can fly. No, this is about money and power, and what happens to those who have too much of it.

Watch:

Good Guy Richard III: Found At Last

Yes, it is time for another addition of Interesting Historical Folk. This month's feature is Richard III, King of All England for About 24 Months Before His Brutal Slaying in 1485.

Shakespeare demonized this young king in his plays, and it was commonly accepted that Richard had killed his two boy nephews to usurp the throne. Since then this guy's been portrayed in movies and books as sly, devious, and selfish, but hopefully that's going to change since the big news.

THE BIG NEWS: After almost 600 years, Richard's bones have been excavated from underneath a Leicester car park.

Wow. And I thought Waldo was winning the hiding game.

Besides the mtDNA testing that proved positive for Richard III, evidence in the bones of severe scoliosis helped solidify the archaeologists' discovery. Poor Richard had to toil through life with this ailment that set in during adolescence. According to Philippa Langley, a screenwriter and producer who has a special thing for this deceased monarch, the scoliosis just proves that Richard was adept and didn't let his imperfections get in the way of doing his duty:

Dem bones showing spine curvature.

"The scientists say you can't see character in bones--but for me, you kind of can. We have Richard III's itinerary. He had an incredibly powerful, strong work ethic. This man never stopped. He was on a horse every day, fighting skirmishes, doing everything they had to do. I've spoken to scoliosis experts and they say acute scoliosis like that was painful. So we know that he was working through the pain barrier every day just to do his job. That tells me about his character." Source here.

Maybe the usurping, child-murdering, evil-cackling king can yet be redeemed by this find, with some more historically correct study of his life. He implemented some great reforms once he became king that benefited the average working man, including the Court of Requests, where poor people who couldn't afford a lawyer could apply for their grievances to be heard; bail to protect suspected criminals before their trials; banned restrictions on the printing and sale of books (spread ALL the literature!); and he ordered the written laws to be translated from French to English so even the serf could understand them. Source here.

I hearby appoint Richard III as Good Guy Richard III, to be referred to hence.

BUT WAIT--THERE'S MORE!

Yes, you can't stop reading this post until you've seen the best part: the reconstruction of Good Guy Richard III's face using CT scans of his skull bones! Fascinating! I love how technology and science party together to give dead people back their faces.

And heeeeeeeeeeeere's the King! What a beauty!

I mean, just look at that chin. So formidable.

Another Source!

Random Portrait #1

Hello friends, because I dabble in sketching and like to draw random faces at random points in my day-to-day life, I've decided to create a segment of random posts called "Random Portraits."

Very random, indeed.

Sometimes a face just strikes me, whether from a magazine, off the street, a family member or friend, and I feel the need to capture their essence on paper.

So without further ado, I give you Random Portrait #1:

How random! It's Ian Somerhalder

Who will be Random Portrait #2? It's a mystery! Thanks for joining us, and see you next time on "Random Portraits"!

The Alligator: For the Suave Literary Gator in You

Dear Two and Three-Eighths People Who Read My Blog,

Have I got some great news for you! No, I didn't just win the lotto and decide to share my millions with you out of sheer gratitude. It's better!

I'd like to introduce you to my newest friend, Al Dappergator, official lord and mascot of the new literary magazine The Alligator, created by editorial genius friend Julia Morrison.

"Delighted to make your acquaintance, I'm sure."

Don't be fooled by his curling smirk or green-tinged, scaly flesh: Dappergator is a gentleman. AND his magazine is fresh, new, and full of amazing poems, stories, and soon to be other media such as original songs, drawings, comics, and essays. 

The Alligator seeks to be an all-inclusive creative outlet, and right now exhibits the talents of a small batch of contributors (of which I am a part). If you're looking for the literary experience but want a little extra, like laughter, befuddlement, tears, and all other kinds of emotions, visit www.alligatormagazine.com today and help Al Dappergator become the legendary gator of literature he's meant to be!

(Image is copyrighted to The Alligator, (c) 2013)

Guantanamo Must Go

Detainees hunker down inside the barbed wire fences
of Guantanamo

Perhaps you've heard something in the news about Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Perhaps you've heard about the controversies surrounding this place, one of the most notorious and expensive prisons in the world.

In September of 2012 it celebrated its eleventh birthday. It's growing up fast, but the situation is only growing bleaker for the 171 detainees still left in legal limbo behind the prison's high security bars.

During not one of Guantanamo's eleven years in business have human rights laws been followed. Prisoners were snatched off civilian streets when the terrorist craze after 9/11 hit the U.S. A 15-year old Canadian boy was captured and detained for 8 years without being formally charged, and was finally let go in 2009. An 89-year old Afghan man with senile dementia was captured and held. Out of a whopping 799 total detainees, only six have been convicted.

The rest wait in limbo as each day passes without hope for a fair trial. Many prisoners haven't been allowed to contact their families or lawyers. Torture techniques such as water-boarding, sleep deprivation, starvation, stress positions, thumb-screws, and drugs have all been used to draw out confessions or information that, ultimately, have proved useless due to the questionable ways in which they were gotten.

The U.S. Congress has not been helpful in getting Guantanamo closed. In fact, Congress recently signed a bill in mid December forbidding Obama to transfer detainees to U.S. prisons where they could receive more attention and rights. This is not progress. Obama has conveyed again and again his desire to close the prison, but Congress has thwarted his efforts along the way.

I wrote a detailed article about why Guantanamo should be closed, and it takes into account what I've explained here, but goes into even more atrocities that I don't have room for here. I'm planning on sending the article to a major newspaper. Next I developed a petition using change.org so that I could present Congress with a (hopefully) substantial list of people who also want Guantanamo shut down. Here is the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/u-s-congress-shut-down-guantanamo-bay-prison-once-and-for-all-2 

Please sign the petition and share it! This is a big problem that not only hurts the individual detainees, but also every American who must now suffer the consequences of a marred reputation due to their country's behavior. In this day and age, people like me shouldn't have to be fighting constantly for the human rights of others--rights are not privileges! They are automatic and indisputable. Help me remind Congress of that.


If you want some more information, go to Amnesty International's watch of the latest Guantanamo news: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/guant-namo-10-years-human-wrongs-2012-11-01

Thank you!