I heard John Carlos speak at Occupy Madison Thursday

He has been a hero to me for 43 years. I've never forgotten that brave, electric moment at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City when John Carlos and fellow U.S. sprinter Tommie Smith showed the Black Power salute on the podium at their medal ceremony. They were protesting racial discrimination and also the massacre of at least 40 protesters in Mexico City by government forces 10 days before the Games began.

Avery Brundage, the head of the International Olympic Committee, had refused to cancel or postpone the Games. Brundage freaked out over the runners' protest, and Carlos and Smith were kicked out of the Olympic Village and banned from the Olympics. Though some applauded their courage at the time, much of America turned against the two men, and they paid a steep price in their athletic careers.

Carlos been fighting for civil rights and human rights ever since and recently spoke at Zucotti Park to Occupy Wall Street protesters. He brought the same message to Occupy Madison, Day 14 Thursday afternoon. He told Occupy Madison that they were fighting the same battle he fought 43 years ago. He was in Madison for the Wisconsin Book Festival to promote his book, The John Carlos Story, but took time from his schedule to join the other 99% in Veterans Park.

His co-author, Dave Zirin, blogged in The Nation about accompanying Carlos to Zucotti Park and to MSNBC, where he introduced him to NY Sen. Chuck Schumer.

I made the introduction, on my best green-room behavior, and bit my tongue. Chuck Schumer then looked at John’s body up and down and said, “You’re in great shape! Are you still running?” John paused beautifully and said, “Running for justice.” Schumer, perhaps for the first time, was tongue-tied. I would just add that John isn’t “just running for justice,” he’s running toward justice; and he has a hell of a lot of company.

And you can include Madison in that company.

U.S. reaches another milestone in the drone war

I couldn't agree more about grounding the drones. Death by remote control isn't making us any friends in the area, and in fact is helping destabilize Pakistan. To many it seems cowardly and immoral. In any event, it sets a terrible example that we may someday find turned against us.

So far, the use of drones has been limited mainly by their size and expense. Because they're not cheap, the drones used so far have mostly been designed to return undamaged to their base for reuse, and flying long missions necessitates a lot of expense.

That may be about to change; Today Bloomberg reports that U.S. Deploys Kamikaze Drones to Attack Afghan Taliban Targets. Not only does the GPS-guided drone self-destruct at the end of its mission, but it's relatively disposable. Called "Switchblade," it's only 24 inches long, is launched from a tube that can be carried in a backpack, and it only weighs 6 pounds. The article doesn't say how much it costs, but it's obviously far less expensive than the million-dollar-plus big drones that fly the roundtrip missions. So we'll probably see more of these attacks (the Switchblade has been used 12 times at last count.)

It strikes me as a dangerous precedent. The U.S. military doesn't have a monopoly on GPS guidance systems. They're in every smartphone, and I've seen stories about model airplane hobbyists are building smartphone guidance systems for model aircraft carrying bulky DSLR cameras (which weigh as much as a pretty hefty charge of plastic explosives).

If amateur tinkerers can come up with this stuff on their own, and now that we've provided the proof of concept that model airplane-sized drones make efficient killing machines, it's hard to believe a determined terrorist can't do the same. The Switchblade no doubt is filled with expensive state of the art electronics, but we're so surrounded by sophisticated technology these days, the necessary components could be assembled from off the shelf supplies at a tiny fraction of the cost, just the way the hobbyists do.

Is this really the kind of world we want to live in? And do you really want to have to worry whenever you hear a model airplane overhead whether it's friend of foe?

Seed launching pad

Every fall I can't resist photographing milkweed pods. Mostly they don't turn out, but sometimes they do. (Stricker's Pond, Middleton.)

Recall Pinocchio November 15

Scott Walker delivering his budget message last March. Were they promises or lies? Have you noticed a lot of improvement in the schools as a result of the "flexibility" created by his union-busting budget bill? What about all the new jobs he promised? Remember how he said he was going to voluntarily set an example by making a higher pension contribution until the law went into effect, but then didn't? Less than a month now until you'll be able to make yourself heard. Recall Pinocchio November 15.