I am Jack's total lack of enthusiasm. If rumors are true then this fall is supposed to be a big election. An election that signifies change. An election that tells the status quo that we're fed up with the lies and cover-ups. Fed up with scandals, bribery, and walking at whim over the Constitution. It's an election to be remembered if only the balance of power is somewhat restored and we come off the hard right axis and balance oh so precariously on the head of a culture of potential change. That's the way it's supposed to go anyways, that is before Black Friday came early...

Black Friday usually comes at the end of November, the day after Thanksgiving, actually. It's the day when the huge consumer based economy can celebrate with hard-earned cash. You can literally hear thousands of corporate CEO's sigh with relief knowing their pension packages are safe for one more year upon the final ring of the cash register at Wal-Mart. Some people, not all unlike myself, prefer to stay at home, free of the debris of mass carnage and still tripping lazily on day old Tryptophan. From the point of retailers everywhere though, there's nothing sluggish about it as they white knuckle their mistakes and bad fortune away while watching the profits pave the way to a Happy Christmas.

Black Friday. Black. Friday.

As much as I know that it's about accounting I can't help but think it sounds ominous. Black is the color of death, mourning, and sorrow. Black is the color of the books when a year in the hole turns around to large bonuses. Fridays are the end of something (the workweek). This last Friday was the end of something much bigger. Black Friday's are all about seeing if the marketing plan paid off. If all the advertising and hard work made the people go out and do what they were told to do. It is the end of a long long waiting game and the outcome determines everything. Black Friday.

You wouldn't know it by watching 19 Action News or Fox 8. You would kinda have noticed something if you interrupted your weekend to trip over the slow news day but if you hung around til Monday you probably think the only thing pertinent that happened this weekend was some Republican Legislator quite capably filled the news hole.* However as much as we eat up some juicy gossip based irony, there were more important things happening across the land as the last 6 years of Bush & Company came to a head and hundreds of years of struggle for the principles of this land gave way to politics. All in the name of staying elected and appearing tough on terror.

On September 29th, 2006, after it passed in the House, the Senate approved the Military Commissions Act of 2006, aka the Torture Bill. I could easily rail on about what must seem like hyperbole. That this is easily the single worst law I've ever noticed being passed in my lifetime. That it pisses me off to no extent to see the administration's marketing plan slide by so easily and basically say that stuff like this is ok, regardless of the results, should come as no surprise. That our administration thinks the Geneva code can mean whatever we want it to mean as long as it's convenient for us at the time is out and out frightening. The fact that just about anyone for any reason can be declared an enemy combatant and taken away forever with no trial or rhyme or reason should strike chords that raise more than just the hair on the back of our necks. The fact that this is law now in our country should do something...

Certainly it should act at least as the final catalyst for all the change that's supposed to be coming in this election. Surely it must, for if this bit of law being passed which essentially can remove due process from the system can't bring about a change then what could?

Welcome to Ohio. Once again a state full of swing in a crucial election year. On one hand we have Uncle Tom and his merry band of 'keep the brown guy from voting' crew running for Governor and his good buddy DeWhine who is promising to keep doing what he's been doing for forever, 'cause you know, that's been so stellar. On the other hand we have people like Ted Strickland and Sherrod Brown, promising a bigger brighter better future for Ohio. How? By changing it of course. Going back to those core values that Ohioans believe in and working to overturn all the wrongs that have been forced upon our humble home and help get us back on track again.

Oh how I'd like to believe it. It seems so simple doesn't it? You don't like how things have been going? Just vote this way come November and your conscience will be clear as we soar off into the bright future, holding hands with each other while Kumbayah plays faintly in the distance. But setting aside all that hippy crap for a moment it should be pretty easy to tell how these people will act when we give them the power they desire by looking at what they do with the power we've already given them, right?

But perhaps it's not time to break out the champagne just yet as Sherrod Brown voted FOR the bill while good ol' Ted Strickland couldn't be bothered to vote on something as menial as this.

For your perusal:

Full House Voting Record

Full Senate Voting Record

They took the same old discredited shit and turned it into legislation for the purposes of retroactively legitimizing it. All while the bastions of change did fuck all to stop it. If that's not progression I don't know what is. So pardon me for my lack of enthusiasm regarding this upcoming Tuesday in November.. My mind's going to be stuck on a Friday in September for a while.

*Yes that was a bad pun but I just couldn't resist, not unlike interns in our nations capital it seems.

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