NORTH BAY BOH E MI A N | DEC E M BE R 7–1 3, 20 1 1 | BO H E M I AN.COM
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BOHEMIAN
Rhapsodies Locked Up
The National Defense Authorization Act would make Kafka roll over in his grave BY KRIS MAGNUSSON
T
he National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) declares U.S. soil a battlefield and authorizes the military to detain terror suspects indefinitely, without right to counsel unless specifically authorized. This bill is the most un-American of bills ever taken up by the Senate. The passage of this bill would set back political and philosophical evolution in the United States by hundreds of years, and it raises the stakes of the current struggle against political and economic injustice.
The potential to curtail Americans’ natural rights is built into the NDAA because it takes away rights to fair civilian trials for the accused. It’s dangerous enough that the president broke his promise to dismantle Guantanamo. I won’t assert that co-sponsors Levin and McCain wrote this bill specifically to wield the force of the military against political dissidents; that would be a logical fallacy. But that this bill has bipartisan and majority support indicates most of the Senate have no moral or ethical issues with subverting the natural rights of human beings for, at best, a marginal increase in domestic security. At worst, there is no doubt that if this act is signed into law it could be abused to detain political dissenters. Americans should, at a minimum, be cautious if the NDAA becomes law. Be prepared to keep your mouths shut, go to work, consume gratuitously and forget about your natural rights as human beings, because to speak out could mean potentially being sent to Guantanamo Bay with no hope of release or reprieve. Forward-thinkers cannot bring about change nonviolently to protect life on this planet if the military seizes its leaders and hauls them to a remote prison in the middle of the night. We must continue to fight now for a sane and just political system, economy and society, as well as the chance to set right the wrongs of the past 400 years. Hope for the best—but prepare to defend what nature has given you freely, that those in power might attempt to take away from you to protect their own interests and wealth. Kris Magnusson is a senior technical writer for a software company in Marin County. Open Mic is a weekly feature in the Bohemian. We welcome your contribution. To have your topical essay of 350 words considered for publication, write openmic@bohemian.com.
Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
I was gratefully surprised to see the Open Mic piece on AIDS awareness (“Staying Negative,” Nov. 23). As a professional sex surrogate, I teach people about STDs daily. Surprisingly, we still need better longterm studies for STDs. Opinions about degree of risk have changed more than once. Clinics and doctors don’t always keep current, and their personal prejudices can affect their judgment. Also, they have confided in me that they are afraid to overwhelm their patients, and therefore only give them basic information. So this is a list of what I get checked for: AIDS/HIV, candida, chanchroids, bladder infections (because I’m bisexual), chlamydia, cytomegalovirus, crabs, Epstein-Barr virus, gonorrhea, hepatitis, herpes, HPV, intestinal parasites, lice, Molluscum contagiosum, mycoplasma, scabies, and MRSA. In the 1970s and 1980s, I contracted STDs from nice, “careful” people. Now, I refrain from exchanging any body fluids with clients. Unfortunately, this also means no wet kisses or oral sex with new lovers until we’ve all been fully tested and made clear agreements about our “safer” behaviors with any other lovers (or sensual masseuses). Sometimes this requires going to more than one clinic. The Sebastopol Community Clinic is a good place to start. I wish for a conscious, healthy and happy sex life for all.
BARBARA DAUGHERTY Cotati
Plaza Seminar on the Future
A few of us have been at the southwest corner of Healdsburg’s Plaza for a few weeks now. We have named ourselves Occupy Wall Street at Healdsburg, because we are truly part of the current national movement, but we’d prefer to call it the Plaza Seminar on the Future of America. We don’t do tents, porta-potties or confrontation, but we do signs, witness, information, dialogue and discussion. It is often charged, with not a little smugness, that the Occupy movement has no platform, policies or goals, which is patently ridiculous. If you’re part of the 99%, you know intuitively many of the things that must be done to “restore” our America. Some of us seminarians suggest, for example, as a start that we raise the federal tax level on the rich, following the “Warren Buffett program”; levying a 90 percent tax on corporate and investment-industry bonuses; increase (or start enforcing!) regulation of banks, investment firms and hedge funds; introducing a federal campaign finance system with a publically funded feature; drastically (re-)limiting political campaign donations by businesses and corporations; shifting tax exemptions from large corporations to small- and medium-sized businesses; eliminating mortgage-payment tax write-offs for second homes; strengthening the powers and independence of the new U.S. Consumer Protection Bureau; ending subsidies to oil and gas companies; mandating contributions by large corporations and banks to local community-benefit programs; encouraging people to put their money in community-based banks instead of the Big Guys. We think a vigorous capitalism with adequate regulation will give us an America fairer for all. Oh yes, very radical, but it delights us to think of what a terrific country we could be if any two or three of these were put into effect. If you have similar ideas, you too belong to the Occupy movement, so please join us every Saturday from 2pm