MOSCOW, Nov. 19, 2003 -- Last Friday was another holiday.
Constitution Day.
My student Valera spent the day actually reading it.
And it’s a pretty good document:
The dignity of the person shall be protected by the state. No circumstance may be used as a pretext for belittling it.
Everyone shall have the right to freedom and personal inviolability.
Arrest, detention and keeping in custody shall be allowed only by an order of a court of law. No person may be detained for more than 48 hours without an order of a court of law.
The home shall be inviolable. No one shall have the right to enter the home against the will of persons residing in it except in cases stipulated by the federal law or under an order of a court of law.
Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to gather peacefully, without weapons, and to hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets.
The only problem is that it’s worthless.
The government violates it constantly and the Supreme Court, as a controlled arm of the Kremlin, generally ignores it.
Putin can do anything he wants!
Eat your heart out, Dubya!
The U.S. Army has captured Hussein, according to the Moscow Times. The commanding general of the unit that found him said he didn’t even have a mobile phone. So guess what! All those killer strikes against U.S. forces that the evil Saddam has been directing….he hasn’t been directing. So nothing will change. In fact, the killer attacks will probably intensify.
Good work, Dubya! Ya really know how to call ‘em.
The most noteworthy aspect of Hussein’s capture is what Bush did the next day. With the headlines and front pages commandeered by the news of the capture, Bush used the occasion to pull out his pen and sign amendments to the patriot act that, by expanding the definition of “financial institutions,” allow the FBI, by simply presenting a “National Security Letter,” to get records of, not only banks, but stockbrokers, car dealerships, casinos, credit card companies, insurance agencies, jewelers, airlines, the U.S. Post Office, and any other business "whose cash transactions have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory matters" without having to appear before a judge or demonstrate that there is any reason to believe that the individual is involved in criminal or terrorist activity.
Insidiously, the National Security Letters come with a gag order that prevents any financial institution – under dire threat of criminal penalties -- from informing its clients that their records have been surrendered to the FBI.
Finally, the FBI no longer has to report to Congress on how often they use the National Security Letters.
As one journalist noted, “by signing the bill on the day of Hussein's capture, Bush effectively consigned a dramatic expansion of the USA Patriot Act to a mere footnote. Consequently, while most Americans watched as Hussein was probed for head lice, few were aware that the FBI had just obtained the power to probe their financial records, even if the feds don't suspect their involvement in crime or terrorism.
I’m really living in your future!
Hussein’s capture has prompted some to predict that something ominous – and fatal -- will happen to Hussein. The public trial that Bush has promised would be too damaging to the United States in general and to Bush in particular. Some believe that even before his capture, “the Administration had already decided that Hussein would never be allowed to be tried in public or to defend himself.”
Consequently, they predict that “something big will have to happen to prevent the trial from taking place."
One possibility being cited is the deliberate engineering – a la 9/11, they say -- of an attack on the U.S. with a weapon of mass destruction, say an atomic bomb, that would inflict large casualties. In such an event, the Constitution would be scrapped in favor of martial law, they contend. And how could elections possibly be held in the middle of such an emergency?
“Yes, Sir,” predicted one contributor to the EnergyResources internet network, “2004 is going to be a heckova year.”
Are these merely the paranoid musings of a mad conspiratorialist?
One would like to think so. But Bush has already so far exceeded acceptable norms of civilized behavior that you’re tempted to say that “there’s nothing you can think of that is so bad he wouldn’t do it to achieve his goals of wealth and world power .”
The “mad conspiratorialist” on the Energy Resources internet network resurrected the warning issued by President James Madison nearly 210 years ago:
dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies and debts and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same malignant aspect in epublicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war . . . and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both.
No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
I personally think I’m safer in Putin’s Russia than in George Bush’s America.
Maybe we’re going to Prague for Christmas – but on the other hand, maybe not. On the other hand – if you’ve got that many – maybe half of us are.
Anton and Shurik still haven’t received their visas from the Prague embassy, and we’re scheduled to fly out in six days. Yegor – the one whose visa was most in doubt because he doesn’t have a Russian passport -- has already received his, and I don’t need one, so he and I are wired to go. The tour agency promised that if we don’t all get visas, we’ll all get our money back, but we’ve caught them trying to pull some shady deals, so I don’t have a lot of confidence in their promises.
Promises of Russian companies generally aren’t worth much, as Anton has discovered.
In September, a couple of months ago, he bought an LG monitor for his computer. He had already bought a VuSonic which didn’t work satisfactorily. He had gotten his money back on that, and opted for the superior quality – he thought -- LG. I had paid for a computer design course for him back in June while we were still lovers. His goal was to perfect his designer skills, develop a portfolio, and get a job as a designer paying something more than the 200 bucks a month he’s making now as a merchandiser.
With his new monitor, he immediately noticed a couple of problems – poor focus and a slight change in dimensions as he moved the image around the screen. But he thought he could work with it, and he needed to get on with his program.
But two months after he had bought the monitor, it literally blew up in his face.
So instead of two problems, he now had three.
He took it to one of the Moscow LG Service Centers. “Yes, we can repair it.” How long? “Maybe 20 days, maybe longer.”
After a couple of weeks, they called: “Your monitor is ready.”
When he went in to look at it, he noticed that in removing and replacing the case, they had scratched it. So now there were four problems.
“Oh, no,” they said. “We didn’t do that.”
But Anton had had the same problem with the VuSonic. So when he had brought the LG in, he had pointed out that there was no damage to the case and had them notate the fact.
He reminded them of the notation.
“Well, okay, we can replace the case, but that’ll be another 10 days.
When they called again to tell him it was ready, he went in to check it. They had indeed replaced the casing, but had done nothing about the focus or the shifting dimensions.
When he complained, they told him, “it’s supposed to be that way. It won’t work in any other regime.”
He came home and looked at the instructions. They specifically stated that LG recommended the regime he had requested.
He took the instructions back to them.
“Well, okay.”
So he left the monitor again.
When they again called to tell him the monitor was fixed and he again came to check it, they had done nothing about the dimensions problem. When he expressed his outrage, they insisted “It’s supposed to be that way.”
So he came home and with the help of his boyfriend Denis, wrote a formal complaint.
When he went back with the complaint, they said, “Okay, we’ll install a kinescope.”
They called again to say it was ready. But when he returned to the service center, it was worse than before. Focus was impossible. When he asked to complain to the “master technician” who had repaired it, he was told the dude was on holiday.
So now, four months later, his LG monitor is still in the shop and he’s still working as a merchandiser. His portfolio is still in his head.
Russian law says that in such an eventuality, both the vender and the repair service are responsible. He went back to the vender. “Oh, no. It’s not our problem.” He pointed to the law. “No, it’s not our problem.”
There’s nothing left now but to sue. Will he get justice? LG is a big company. They can afford to give the judge as big a bribe as is necessary.
The law – and the constitution – are as worthless as his LG monitor.
Even so, I still think I’m better off here than in Bush’s America.
