Sunday, June 26, 2005
My new blog.
I have decided to tackle issues I think deserve there own venue. I will be talking about religion and how it/what has effected my life. I would like to welcome any and all to "Smokin' Joints for Jesus" - It is not here to offend, were Jesus looking into my heart, into the sentiment behind that title, he would not be offended. He might even chuckle.
Friday, June 24, 2005
We now admit to torture. . .
GENEVA (AFP) - Washington has for the first time acknowledged to the United Nations that prisoners have been tortured at US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, a UN source said.The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity."They are no longer trying to duck this, and have respected their obligation to inform the UN," the Committee member told AFP."They they will have to explain themselves (to the Committee). Nothing should be kept in the dark."UN sources said it was the first time the world body has received such a frank statement on torture from US authorities.--snip--
Via Suburban guerilla via The Heretik
And it comes to light. Not that there was much question of whether it happened/is happening. It is a question of official acknowledgement. We have an administration that has repeatedly lied. I am not talking about lies about infidelity. I am not talking about lies about dirty even criminal political dealing. I am not talking about lies to cover up covert actions gone wrong. I am talking about systemic disinformation that has led to the breakdown of the United States of America and the foundation of our republic. We are not a nation that tortures, withholds the process of law or discriminates based on religion. Yet under the current political regime we are becoming the antithesis of what we were founded upon. Don't get me wrong, America has never been perfect. We have always had a flawed system regularly perverted to commit atrocities on occasion. But never before have we been so flagrantly pushed beyond perversion to outright breakdown. No longer are we dealing with flaws in need of repair. We are instead becoming that which we detest. While we fight a losing battle in Iraq we tell the world that we have no real problems with the genocide in Darfur. We and the UN have implicitly stated to the world at large that we will do little to nothing to stop state sponsored genocide. We will however lie to the world and the American people about why we are putting the lives of our children at risk in war. We will send them to that war ill-equipped and with no planning. We will send them to their slaughter. Yet we cannot and will not fight a winnable, justifiable war.
This is still a democracy. We are responsible for what we do. I am not talking about simply voting. I am talking about fighting the established regime. I am talking about axing the Republicratic system of government we have accepted as status quo and truly be a democracy. The lesser of two evils is not democracy - it's bad policy against bad policy. We need to wake the fuck up and take democracy back.
DuWayne E. Brayton
Via Suburban guerilla via The Heretik
And it comes to light. Not that there was much question of whether it happened/is happening. It is a question of official acknowledgement. We have an administration that has repeatedly lied. I am not talking about lies about infidelity. I am not talking about lies about dirty even criminal political dealing. I am not talking about lies to cover up covert actions gone wrong. I am talking about systemic disinformation that has led to the breakdown of the United States of America and the foundation of our republic. We are not a nation that tortures, withholds the process of law or discriminates based on religion. Yet under the current political regime we are becoming the antithesis of what we were founded upon. Don't get me wrong, America has never been perfect. We have always had a flawed system regularly perverted to commit atrocities on occasion. But never before have we been so flagrantly pushed beyond perversion to outright breakdown. No longer are we dealing with flaws in need of repair. We are instead becoming that which we detest. While we fight a losing battle in Iraq we tell the world that we have no real problems with the genocide in Darfur. We and the UN have implicitly stated to the world at large that we will do little to nothing to stop state sponsored genocide. We will however lie to the world and the American people about why we are putting the lives of our children at risk in war. We will send them to that war ill-equipped and with no planning. We will send them to their slaughter. Yet we cannot and will not fight a winnable, justifiable war.
This is still a democracy. We are responsible for what we do. I am not talking about simply voting. I am talking about fighting the established regime. I am talking about axing the Republicratic system of government we have accepted as status quo and truly be a democracy. The lesser of two evils is not democracy - it's bad policy against bad policy. We need to wake the fuck up and take democracy back.
DuWayne E. Brayton
Thursday, June 23, 2005
New revelations - About Me
I have begun to tire of the mask I have created myself. I have been posting as Treban Lukes, the protagonist in a short story I wrote many years ago. I have done this because I am job seeking and was afraid my occasional radical rants might infringe on my job hunt. I am done with my mask. I have yet to find steady employment - I am no longer concerned that this, my special space, will keep me from a job.
My name is DuWayne Brayton. There I have said it and I feel good for it. I have come to hate what I have come to feel is a deception of sorts. I think most who read here have learned that Treban is a pseudonym - I haven't hidden it - but I still feel its not quite honest. I have in the past tried to be what I am not. A few years ago I realized that I am a man of many experiences and that the reality is plenty exciting enough that the fantasy was really just so much bullshit. I have come lately to feel that the mask I have worn as Treban is a similar construct. A shield to keep people from knowing me. No more.
I am a good man. Not great - but good. I seek to be the reflection of the man I would be proud of my son becoming. I will not hide my candle as it were. I am a radical and I am angry. I am tired of this country representing power more than people. I will not induce change in any reasonable fashion by hiding myself. My name is DuWayne Elvin Brayton and I am angry. My shell has been discarded and I am awake now.
Treban was/is a great man. A man I strive to be. Treban was imprisoned because he felt that the "Utopian" society he resided in was peopled by nothing more than automatons. He felt there had to be more than meaningless work, meaningless recreation, meaningless procreation. He was a deviant and as such was taken apart from society to be "re-educated" - he would not be broken. He was then invited to be a part of the powers that be - he could not help maintain the status quo. He was then killed - he died, a free man. Treban fought to change a system inherently designed to function like a machine. He was a flawed part of the machine - flawed because he felt life was/should be more. He followed the heroes journey and died a martyr. He affected/infected enough cogs in that great social machine that the destruction of them all would destroy the machine.
It is my sincere hope that we all can "awaken." The machine that is America is broken - yet functions on some level. It is time to bring that machine to halt. We need to rebuild the machine. Equality, freedom, liberty are not just clever catchwords. They are the bedrock upon which this republic stands. It is time to repair that foundation before it crumbles to nothing and America becomes an unfortunate footnote in history. We were a great nation - we will be again.
DuWayne E. Brayton
I will post the story in it's entirety if I can find a copy. I wrote it for a class project in the seventh grade and havn't seen it for years. It may in fact be lost. If so I will try to reconstruct it as accurately as possible.
My name is DuWayne Brayton. There I have said it and I feel good for it. I have come to hate what I have come to feel is a deception of sorts. I think most who read here have learned that Treban is a pseudonym - I haven't hidden it - but I still feel its not quite honest. I have in the past tried to be what I am not. A few years ago I realized that I am a man of many experiences and that the reality is plenty exciting enough that the fantasy was really just so much bullshit. I have come lately to feel that the mask I have worn as Treban is a similar construct. A shield to keep people from knowing me. No more.
I am a good man. Not great - but good. I seek to be the reflection of the man I would be proud of my son becoming. I will not hide my candle as it were. I am a radical and I am angry. I am tired of this country representing power more than people. I will not induce change in any reasonable fashion by hiding myself. My name is DuWayne Elvin Brayton and I am angry. My shell has been discarded and I am awake now.
Treban was/is a great man. A man I strive to be. Treban was imprisoned because he felt that the "Utopian" society he resided in was peopled by nothing more than automatons. He felt there had to be more than meaningless work, meaningless recreation, meaningless procreation. He was a deviant and as such was taken apart from society to be "re-educated" - he would not be broken. He was then invited to be a part of the powers that be - he could not help maintain the status quo. He was then killed - he died, a free man. Treban fought to change a system inherently designed to function like a machine. He was a flawed part of the machine - flawed because he felt life was/should be more. He followed the heroes journey and died a martyr. He affected/infected enough cogs in that great social machine that the destruction of them all would destroy the machine.
It is my sincere hope that we all can "awaken." The machine that is America is broken - yet functions on some level. It is time to bring that machine to halt. We need to rebuild the machine. Equality, freedom, liberty are not just clever catchwords. They are the bedrock upon which this republic stands. It is time to repair that foundation before it crumbles to nothing and America becomes an unfortunate footnote in history. We were a great nation - we will be again.
DuWayne E. Brayton
I will post the story in it's entirety if I can find a copy. I wrote it for a class project in the seventh grade and havn't seen it for years. It may in fact be lost. If so I will try to reconstruct it as accurately as possible.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
New E-mail
My new address is duwayne.brayton@gmail.com I look forward to hearing from those who deign to write me.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
New Revelations on a Near Daily Basis
And yet another from The Heretik Joe Ivory Mattingly. More memos more reports and what do we get? Nothing. Except maybe it is something. I just got an e-mail from Shakes sis that nearly half a million have signed congressman Conyers' letter to Bush demanding answers to the questions raised/confirmed by the Downing Street memo. Commercial media is really starting to pick up on this as well. When I was going through Nebraska I read a local paper during dinner and they mentioned the D S memo. Local new here in Portland is giving updates on what is happening with it and it seems the word is spreading even to the reddest of states.
One thing I have learned about middle America is that even though they vote Republican most of the time, they hate being lied to. And when the lies kill off their patriotic children they hate it even more. Yes, it takes a lot to get through to most repugs but when they get bombarded with facts only the thickest don't get it. Throughout my journey I ate at a lot of small town diners and overheard and joined a lot of conversations in which die-hard Bushites were really getting pissed about Dubbya's bullshit. More and more people are getting angry that we are in a new Vietnam who's justifications and spin are floundering out of control.
The reason for this is right here. Not to many folks read my blog but a lot of blogs many with a much wider readership are out there and they are taking on the topics the commercial media avoids and they are forcing them to put out the truth. With Dark Wraith's Blog Scream and The Big Brass Alliance to name just two many voices are joined together and they are getting louder. A chorus that is so loud that people are having to listen. This is our America too and we will not sit idle while the government refuses to represent the masses and only holds for the few special interests. With rallies and protests and hours in front of the computers we will continue to shout for our rights, we will cry out for the downtrodden and the dead and we will not be silenced by threats and intimidation. This is our America too and I for one will not shut up until we all enjoy equality in government and society.
One thing I have learned about middle America is that even though they vote Republican most of the time, they hate being lied to. And when the lies kill off their patriotic children they hate it even more. Yes, it takes a lot to get through to most repugs but when they get bombarded with facts only the thickest don't get it. Throughout my journey I ate at a lot of small town diners and overheard and joined a lot of conversations in which die-hard Bushites were really getting pissed about Dubbya's bullshit. More and more people are getting angry that we are in a new Vietnam who's justifications and spin are floundering out of control.
The reason for this is right here. Not to many folks read my blog but a lot of blogs many with a much wider readership are out there and they are taking on the topics the commercial media avoids and they are forcing them to put out the truth. With Dark Wraith's Blog Scream and The Big Brass Alliance to name just two many voices are joined together and they are getting louder. A chorus that is so loud that people are having to listen. This is our America too and we will not sit idle while the government refuses to represent the masses and only holds for the few special interests. With rallies and protests and hours in front of the computers we will continue to shout for our rights, we will cry out for the downtrodden and the dead and we will not be silenced by threats and intimidation. This is our America too and I for one will not shut up until we all enjoy equality in government and society.
I have been and am very busy getting settled into Portland
But I am loving it. I have a great roomate (Craig) that I get along with. It's more cooperative than not which is good. I just don't do well with this is mine that's your's neither the twain shall meet kinda bullshit. Caleb loves Craig and his boyfriend Daniel. I also am 90% sure I got a great new job, I find out for sure tomorrow. I have already visited with my old drummer and his wife and daughter. Cay really hit it off with their daughter whos four and wanted to stay and play when it was time to go home. The Pacific Northwest is absolutely gorgeous and I am looking forward to going climbing as soon as possible. I am trying to pick up some side work because even if I got the job I'm about a month away from a paycheck with $50 to my name. It'll all work out though, there are a lot of oppertunities on craigslist so I'm not to worried. C-l has gotten me a job and great roomie so far, so I am confident it will get me even more. I will try and post more often and will be getting back to politics more often than I have lately. I am grateful for the e-mails and comments and support I have gotten from many of you. It has made a difficult situation a little less stressful knowing some of you, whom I've never and probably never will meet in person, actually care about me.
Thank you all,
Treban R. Lukes
Thank you all,
Treban R. Lukes
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
I made it to Portland
I drove 2500 miles since saturday night. My Caleb was very pleased to see me. I have had about six hours of sleep since I left so I will have to post more later.
Monday, June 06, 2005
I am 1,500 miles along 875 left
Good god is this expensive. Twenty cents a minute. And the keyboard is steel - I'm serious. I have gotten great milage and the trip has been mostly uneventful. I did have some issues with the psycho drivers around Chicago but it was getting late when I went through so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I did run into stopped traffic on I-80 in Iowa. We were stuck for 2.5 hours. A semi had crossed the median (not sure how-it was a steep ditch) and looked like it had landed on top of a car. I wasn't to cranky about it as I am assuming they were trying to save lives. The people/person in the front of the car couldn't have survived, but if there were passengers in the back they might have survived. The semi had a hole in the windshield about the right size for a person to have flown through so they may have saved the driver. All in all a shitty accident by appearances when we finally passed it.
My ex's cat, who traditionally hates vehicles seems to have adjusted quite well, it may just be because I am giving her more attention than she has ha in weeks. I ended up with enough room to put even the futons inside and i still have enough room to stretch out inside. All in all it has gone well thus far.
My ex's cat, who traditionally hates vehicles seems to have adjusted quite well, it may just be because I am giving her more attention than she has ha in weeks. I ended up with enough room to put even the futons inside and i still have enough room to stretch out inside. All in all it has gone well thus far.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Last Minute Crisis
So, I was all set to finish up the last minute bathroom remodel by 11:00, finish the packing, stop at my parent's house in Kalamazoo for a shower, a few hours sleep and a chance to use the computer. I was then going to hit the road about 10:-11:00 pm so I could start the run with no traffic. It was a perfect plan. . .
Then I came home, last night, to the message on the machine. "They denied my food stamp/medicaid case because it is still open in Michigan. You need to find my card and buy $300 in groceries."
Everything I own now fits in about a third of my van. I filled the rest with my ex and Caleb's things. I have taken 3,240 books to the used bookstore I love, (I thought it was about a 1,500 less than that but his guy counted them pretty close) I have given up my TV, (yeah!) I have given up all the peculiar "tresure" my son his mom and I have collected from the side of the road and some of the art projects we did with them. I have given up all my bookshelves, computer desk, futon frame, bikes and virtualy everything else. I own three boxes of books, a computer minus a hard drive, a stunted dvd collection, some clothes, a few special scrap book items and my tools. My ex is down to a few movies a few memorabilia, some art tools, and some clothes and a few books. My son made out the best. He has the most special of his toys, three boxes of books, a mess of clothes and his tools. I am going to strap our futons to the roof of the van. I do not have room to spare for $300 in groceries.
So I spent the better part of the day doing what I needed to deal with it. I got $200 from a friend who was able to spend $200 on groceries and rebuilt a friends well housing in two hours for another hundred. I finished the bathroom and got a call from a friend who heard I needed cash for my food card. He was almost disapointed he couldn't help me with more than the hundred left on the card. I offloaded the last big item (the computer desk) and got everything laid out to load into the van. Then I ran to my parents to see them for a bit and here I am. I have an appointment in the morning to get the rear end diff. lubed and my oil changed again.
On the one hnd I am pissed at my ex for continualy pushing more of the burden for this move on me on nearly a daily basis. I am also kinda pissed that this has resulted in me having to give up more and more of my things. On the other hand I also am glad to have the oppurtunity to be more neccesary to her existence. As for giving up nearly everything I own, I am looking at it as an oppertunity to start over.
I have learned a lot in the last few years. I have developed a network of friends who support each other and work for each other's success. For the first time, i am leaving people who are genuinely upset that I am leaving. I am also going somewhere that quite a few people, including a few I have never met in person, are really glad that I am coming. I have the oppertunity to give up the mistakes I have made up to this point and be the reflection of the man I would be proud if my son becomes. I look forward to contributing to the joy and well being of my friends, new and old. I look forward to making a better living than I have ever made. I look forward to being able to afford to go on vacation, instead of finding some side work for the down time because I can't afford the down time. I look forward to being able to relax and get better when I am ill, because a few sick days arn't going to put us further behind on the bills.
I also look forward to fighting, with words and protest actions for our freedoms. My son deserves a chance to be free. My son deserves his privacy. My son deserves to be able to express himself however he would like. And so do the rest of us. I am tired of hearing, from both the right and the left, that we need to curtail freedom for a modicum of false security. I am tired of hearing that abuse and torture, the stance against we were once famous and envied for, are justified in any way by the circumstances we find ourselves in. Damnit, we are Americans, we are bigger and better than that. We will never back down from who we are! And yet that is exactly what we have done. We spit in the faces of the hundreds of thousands who gave up there lives for our freedom. We pissed on the graves of the founders of this great republic. We are rooting out everything great in this nation and throwing it away so we can pretend the terrorists can't get us now.
Wake the fuck up! We are not an iota safer now than we were when terrorists attacked us. The only result has been to make us less safe from our government. The result has been to lose our freedom. It is time for us to shut up or put up. In that vein I have joined many others in the Big Brass Alliance. I havn't the time now to put up the logo but I will when I reach my new home. I encourage you to add your voice to what could and will become a deafening roar. We must take our country back.
I will be back when I reach my new home,
Treban Richard Lukes
Then I came home, last night, to the message on the machine. "They denied my food stamp/medicaid case because it is still open in Michigan. You need to find my card and buy $300 in groceries."
Everything I own now fits in about a third of my van. I filled the rest with my ex and Caleb's things. I have taken 3,240 books to the used bookstore I love, (I thought it was about a 1,500 less than that but his guy counted them pretty close) I have given up my TV, (yeah!) I have given up all the peculiar "tresure" my son his mom and I have collected from the side of the road and some of the art projects we did with them. I have given up all my bookshelves, computer desk, futon frame, bikes and virtualy everything else. I own three boxes of books, a computer minus a hard drive, a stunted dvd collection, some clothes, a few special scrap book items and my tools. My ex is down to a few movies a few memorabilia, some art tools, and some clothes and a few books. My son made out the best. He has the most special of his toys, three boxes of books, a mess of clothes and his tools. I am going to strap our futons to the roof of the van. I do not have room to spare for $300 in groceries.
So I spent the better part of the day doing what I needed to deal with it. I got $200 from a friend who was able to spend $200 on groceries and rebuilt a friends well housing in two hours for another hundred. I finished the bathroom and got a call from a friend who heard I needed cash for my food card. He was almost disapointed he couldn't help me with more than the hundred left on the card. I offloaded the last big item (the computer desk) and got everything laid out to load into the van. Then I ran to my parents to see them for a bit and here I am. I have an appointment in the morning to get the rear end diff. lubed and my oil changed again.
On the one hnd I am pissed at my ex for continualy pushing more of the burden for this move on me on nearly a daily basis. I am also kinda pissed that this has resulted in me having to give up more and more of my things. On the other hand I also am glad to have the oppurtunity to be more neccesary to her existence. As for giving up nearly everything I own, I am looking at it as an oppertunity to start over.
I have learned a lot in the last few years. I have developed a network of friends who support each other and work for each other's success. For the first time, i am leaving people who are genuinely upset that I am leaving. I am also going somewhere that quite a few people, including a few I have never met in person, are really glad that I am coming. I have the oppertunity to give up the mistakes I have made up to this point and be the reflection of the man I would be proud if my son becomes. I look forward to contributing to the joy and well being of my friends, new and old. I look forward to making a better living than I have ever made. I look forward to being able to afford to go on vacation, instead of finding some side work for the down time because I can't afford the down time. I look forward to being able to relax and get better when I am ill, because a few sick days arn't going to put us further behind on the bills.
I also look forward to fighting, with words and protest actions for our freedoms. My son deserves a chance to be free. My son deserves his privacy. My son deserves to be able to express himself however he would like. And so do the rest of us. I am tired of hearing, from both the right and the left, that we need to curtail freedom for a modicum of false security. I am tired of hearing that abuse and torture, the stance against we were once famous and envied for, are justified in any way by the circumstances we find ourselves in. Damnit, we are Americans, we are bigger and better than that. We will never back down from who we are! And yet that is exactly what we have done. We spit in the faces of the hundreds of thousands who gave up there lives for our freedom. We pissed on the graves of the founders of this great republic. We are rooting out everything great in this nation and throwing it away so we can pretend the terrorists can't get us now.
Wake the fuck up! We are not an iota safer now than we were when terrorists attacked us. The only result has been to make us less safe from our government. The result has been to lose our freedom. It is time for us to shut up or put up. In that vein I have joined many others in the Big Brass Alliance. I havn't the time now to put up the logo but I will when I reach my new home. I encourage you to add your voice to what could and will become a deafening roar. We must take our country back.
I will be back when I reach my new home,
Treban Richard Lukes
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Wow, I can't pull crap out of my house fast enough. I managed to finaly get a pile by the side of the road without it disapearing before I could get more out there. I have now managed to find a spot for the junk nobody wants and everything else is spoken for. I have had as much help as I can fit in my house and everything I am taking may just fit in the van without my having to build a box to put on my ladder racks. This is good because A. I would have to move one of the racks closer to the other and B. It would add about $70 to $100 in gas due to wind shear. I did have to replace the radiator but I got one at a junk yard for $45 and it only took me 25 minutes to install.
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