There's a sweet sweet spirit in this place
And I know that it's the spirit of the Lord
There are sweet expressions on each face
And I know that it's the presence of the Lord
Sweet Holy Spirit
Sweet heavenly dove
Stay right here with us
Filling us with your love
And for these blessings
We lift our hearts in praise (hearts in praise)
Without a doubt we'll know that we have been revived
When we shall leave this place
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Something I Just Learned-- A Lesson in Deconstruction
The Greek word for what we now know as Iran(formerly Persia) is Persis, from which we derive the word Persistant. The Greeks used the word Persis with fear.
Why Scooter Libby's Pardon is a Slam Dunk by Frank Rich from Truthout.org Via The NYT
Everyone should read this article. Frank Rich delivers a stirring assessment of the cause and effects of Scooter Libby's trial and the entire underhanded effort of the White House et al to 1. Get us into war with Iraq and 2. Cover up its mistakes and messes after the fact. Rich alerts us to the creation of the White House Iraq Group(WHIG) composed of Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and others, whose task it was to concoct lies and a sexy credible story to sell to the all-too consumeristic American public as a great reason to go to war with Iraq.(Lesson: Stop Buying Everybody's bullshit and stop this wreckage which is our consumer culture). With this effort in their hands Libby, Rove, et al played the nuclear war game, invoking the fear of nuclear war and nuclear holocaust if Saddam Hussein wasn't removed (oh, the same as if all the Communist weren't imprisoned, the Negroes quelled, and the Welfare mothers kicked off of the dole).
This effort worked until actually put into effect when America LOST THE WAR IN IRAQ and all the shit started to fall apart. Then it was time to lie and do other bullshit stuff. When Valerie Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson came out and refuted George Bush's claim that Iraq was buying depleted uranium from Libya and was therefore destroying Bush's entire reason for war, WHIG--and Mr. Scooter Libby most incriminatingly, decided it was time to use some tried and true practices from Nixon and Mr. J. Edgar Hoover by blowing Valerie Plame's CIA cover and trying to discredit her and her husband in any way they could( anyone remember the actress Jean Seberg who was active with the Black Panther Party and how J. Edgar Hoover decided to leak to the press that the child that Seberg was carrying was fathered by a Black Panther and not by her husband, which caused her to go into early labor and have a stillborn child? Anyone remember her suicide about a decade later?) So this little underhanded effort on the part of Cheney, Rove, Libby, et al would have worked had it not been for whatever brave journalists who still have their integrity intact who forced the question which has now resulted in Libby being convicted of perjury. Now, what Rich does here is also interesting in that he ties all of this (because it is all connected) into the scandals of this new escalation of the war (with a "surge" and then several other calls for additional troops after that) and the horrific treatment of the veterans who come back here maimed and otherwise injured at a poorly funded Walter Reed Hospital or a Bethesda, Maryland because Bush, Cheney, et al have spent a billion dollars on a warplane and not on healthcare. And with this poor treatment of the recent veterans (not to mention the old ones) we also have the Bush Administration trying to tidy up it's shit and make everything "look" rosy and using all of its power to do so. Selling this war, make it smell good, and deliver it in the most capitalistically effecient way possible(sex, greed, and violence). Rich talks about the trumped up stories of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman that were put front and center on the White House's banner.
And this is how the Bush administration is attempting to cover up the mess which is spilling out of Iraq. Firstly, it banned all photographs of the dead coming back from Iraq in any news media and secondly, it shut up the solders; when this mess known as the war in iraq first started you could hear soldiers voicing their complaints and disagreements all over NPR--then there was nothing, and there still nothing to be heard. Then, the Bush administration has started to censor coverage and depictions of veterans in the media-- they don't show the wounded in military hospitals at all, the wounded only arrive at these hospitals at night. Also, Bush has decided and made it his policy not to attend U.S. military funerals for fear that media attention might come to all of it. Alas, there was incident in which Bush was honoring an amputee from this current war with a medal and another soldier was told he was not welcome to the ceremony when he announced that he would be wearing short pants and not long pants(which would cover his amputated leg) to the ceremony. You even had General Kiley, the Sergeant General of the army, blaming the presence of rats and roaches in the veteran's rooms at Walter Reed Hospital on "the well-feed, well taken care of" soldiers bring food into their rooms. All of this is boiling to a head. People are taking notice (Rich talks about Cher's frantic phone call to CSPAN in October of 2003--I watched that program on television as it happened--where she was asking why the wounded veterans were not being seen or talked about in the media) and people are beginning to demand accountability.
I hope this glass house is broken. I hope we can finish off this most wicked administration and the most wicked system for which it works( capitalism, patriarchy, the militery industrial complex, whatever you call it). We need to bring about a just peace in the world where the lives of the vulnerable and the ordinary are not at the mercy of the vile and the inhumane. We need to envision a new world.
This effort worked until actually put into effect when America LOST THE WAR IN IRAQ and all the shit started to fall apart. Then it was time to lie and do other bullshit stuff. When Valerie Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson came out and refuted George Bush's claim that Iraq was buying depleted uranium from Libya and was therefore destroying Bush's entire reason for war, WHIG--and Mr. Scooter Libby most incriminatingly, decided it was time to use some tried and true practices from Nixon and Mr. J. Edgar Hoover by blowing Valerie Plame's CIA cover and trying to discredit her and her husband in any way they could( anyone remember the actress Jean Seberg who was active with the Black Panther Party and how J. Edgar Hoover decided to leak to the press that the child that Seberg was carrying was fathered by a Black Panther and not by her husband, which caused her to go into early labor and have a stillborn child? Anyone remember her suicide about a decade later?) So this little underhanded effort on the part of Cheney, Rove, Libby, et al would have worked had it not been for whatever brave journalists who still have their integrity intact who forced the question which has now resulted in Libby being convicted of perjury. Now, what Rich does here is also interesting in that he ties all of this (because it is all connected) into the scandals of this new escalation of the war (with a "surge" and then several other calls for additional troops after that) and the horrific treatment of the veterans who come back here maimed and otherwise injured at a poorly funded Walter Reed Hospital or a Bethesda, Maryland because Bush, Cheney, et al have spent a billion dollars on a warplane and not on healthcare. And with this poor treatment of the recent veterans (not to mention the old ones) we also have the Bush Administration trying to tidy up it's shit and make everything "look" rosy and using all of its power to do so. Selling this war, make it smell good, and deliver it in the most capitalistically effecient way possible(sex, greed, and violence). Rich talks about the trumped up stories of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman that were put front and center on the White House's banner.
And this is how the Bush administration is attempting to cover up the mess which is spilling out of Iraq. Firstly, it banned all photographs of the dead coming back from Iraq in any news media and secondly, it shut up the solders; when this mess known as the war in iraq first started you could hear soldiers voicing their complaints and disagreements all over NPR--then there was nothing, and there still nothing to be heard. Then, the Bush administration has started to censor coverage and depictions of veterans in the media-- they don't show the wounded in military hospitals at all, the wounded only arrive at these hospitals at night. Also, Bush has decided and made it his policy not to attend U.S. military funerals for fear that media attention might come to all of it. Alas, there was incident in which Bush was honoring an amputee from this current war with a medal and another soldier was told he was not welcome to the ceremony when he announced that he would be wearing short pants and not long pants(which would cover his amputated leg) to the ceremony. You even had General Kiley, the Sergeant General of the army, blaming the presence of rats and roaches in the veteran's rooms at Walter Reed Hospital on "the well-feed, well taken care of" soldiers bring food into their rooms. All of this is boiling to a head. People are taking notice (Rich talks about Cher's frantic phone call to CSPAN in October of 2003--I watched that program on television as it happened--where she was asking why the wounded veterans were not being seen or talked about in the media) and people are beginning to demand accountability.
I hope this glass house is broken. I hope we can finish off this most wicked administration and the most wicked system for which it works( capitalism, patriarchy, the militery industrial complex, whatever you call it). We need to bring about a just peace in the world where the lives of the vulnerable and the ordinary are not at the mercy of the vile and the inhumane. We need to envision a new world.
Something I Wrote a Long Time Ago in a Book on the Nth Time of Watching Bowling for Columbine
"Lockheed Martin makes war, bombs, and poverty." Isn't that the trend for all of capitalism?
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Arresting Christians in Washington DC for Protesting the War
The power structure is arresting people of faith who are taking a stand for dignity and humanity. Now the Romans will walk their way to hell with certainty...George Bush and Pontius Pilate hand in hand. God Bless the world with integrity, hope, peace, and love!
Friday, March 16, 2007
Throw It Away
Abbey Lincoln
Throw it Away
Abbey Lincoln
I think about the life I live
a figure made of clay,
and think about the things I lost;
the things I gave away,
and when I'm in a certain mood
I search the halls and look.
One day I found these magic words
in a magic book.
Throw it away. Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
each and every day,
and keep your hand wide open,
Let the sun shine through,
'cause you can never lose a thing
if it belongs to you.
There's a hand to rock the cradle
and a hand to help us stand,
with a gentle kind of motion
as it moves across the land,
and the hand's unclenched and open.
Gifts of life and love it brings,
so keep your hand wide open
if you're needing anything.
Throw it away. Throw it away.
Give your love, live your life
each and every day,
and keep your hand wide open.
Let the sun shine through,
'cause you can never lose a thing
if it belongs to you.
Throw it away. Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
each and every day,
and keep your hand wide open.
Let the sun shine through,
'cause you can never lose a thing
if it belongs to you.
Throw it Away
Abbey Lincoln
I think about the life I live
a figure made of clay,
and think about the things I lost;
the things I gave away,
and when I'm in a certain mood
I search the halls and look.
One day I found these magic words
in a magic book.
Throw it away. Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
each and every day,
and keep your hand wide open,
Let the sun shine through,
'cause you can never lose a thing
if it belongs to you.
There's a hand to rock the cradle
and a hand to help us stand,
with a gentle kind of motion
as it moves across the land,
and the hand's unclenched and open.
Gifts of life and love it brings,
so keep your hand wide open
if you're needing anything.
Throw it away. Throw it away.
Give your love, live your life
each and every day,
and keep your hand wide open.
Let the sun shine through,
'cause you can never lose a thing
if it belongs to you.
Throw it away. Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
each and every day,
and keep your hand wide open.
Let the sun shine through,
'cause you can never lose a thing
if it belongs to you.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The Wording of the Email Which Called for firings at the Justice Department
The reasons given were because these attorneys "chaged against Administration initiatives." Someone needs to be castrated.
Impeach Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales refuses to step down as Attorney General of the United States after his department was caught red-handed in firing 8 Attorneys-General for political reasons and in an effort to possibly cover up wrongdoings related to the Bush Administration. Since he will not step down, call your congresspersons and urge them to draw forth Articles of Impeachment to remove Alberto Gonzales from the Attorney General's office. Contact your legistlators here.
Alberto Gonzales Should Step Down and George Bush Should Be Impeached
New evidence has been given to Congressional democrats concerning the white house's involvement in the political firings of several U.S. attorneys whose political leanings did not match those of the Bush administrations. God please dont let them get by with this one! This seems to be the new Watergate unfolding...
Easy Silence
The Dixie Chicks
When the calls and conversations
Accidents and accusations
Messages and misperceptions
Paralyze my mind
Busses, cars, and airplanes leaving
Burning fumes of gasoline
And everyone is running
And I come to find a refuge in the
Easy silence that you make for me
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay
Monkeys on the barricades
Are warning us to back away
They form commissions trying to find
The next one they can crucify
And anger plays on every station
Answers only make more questions
I need something to believe in
Breathe in sanctuary in the
Easy silence that you make for me
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay
Children lose their youth too soon
Watching war made us immune
And I've got all the world to lose
But I just want to hold on to the
Easy silence that you make for me
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The easy silence that you make for me
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay
When the calls and conversations
Accidents and accusations
Messages and misperceptions
Paralyze my mind
Busses, cars, and airplanes leaving
Burning fumes of gasoline
And everyone is running
And I come to find a refuge in the
Easy silence that you make for me
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay
Monkeys on the barricades
Are warning us to back away
They form commissions trying to find
The next one they can crucify
And anger plays on every station
Answers only make more questions
I need something to believe in
Breathe in sanctuary in the
Easy silence that you make for me
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay
Children lose their youth too soon
Watching war made us immune
And I've got all the world to lose
But I just want to hold on to the
Easy silence that you make for me
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The easy silence that you make for me
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay
Monday, March 12, 2007
Mayans Cleansing Site After Bush Leaves
The Mayan people have said that they will have to spiritually cleanse a sacred place because George Bush has dared to step his foot in it. You go people! Cleanse it and cast him out!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Impeach Gonzales, Bush, Cheney, Rice, et al
Chuck Shumer has called for Alberto Gonzales to step down as Attorney General over his disregard for the privacy of public citizens as well as his political firings of attorneys in the Justice Department not loyal to the Bush regime. The man and actually the entire Bush crew should be castrated--I mean impeached. Someone sign the articles of impeachment!
I Was Right--Oliver North Was Convicted
With all of the broohaha going on concerning Scooter Libby, many news sources have also brougth up the Iran Contra scandal. They only mention the conviction of John Poindexter.However, I thought I was right, and it turns out that I was, that Oliver North was also convicted in regards to the Iran Contra scandal. Now, he is firmly entrenched in GOP politics....oh the people they choose.
Eugene Debs
While there is a lower class, I am in it
While there is injustice it is done to me
While there is a criminal element, I am of it
While there is a soul in prison I am not free
While there is injustice it is done to me
While there is a criminal element, I am of it
While there is a soul in prison I am not free
U.S. Military Activity in Columbia Makes the News
I think it is time to end all U.S. military activity in Latin America. The people of Latin America should shut their doors to U.S. troops as well as to George Bush. Long Live the Latin American Revolution!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Friday, March 09, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
The Thief's Journal
I am loving this book. Jean Genet is like a very queer, European Walt Whitman. He's like the Marquis du Sade, Walt Whitman, and Jimmy Baldwin all rolled up into one.
I'm Going to Follow the Case of the Fired U.S. Attorneys Closely
They have been holding congressional hearings about the series of firings that the Bush administration has handed out to several U.S. attorneys, most of whom were working on cases that incriminated the Bush administration and the GOP, including the investigation into the Randy "Duke" Cunningham scandal. I hope that the democrats have a goddamned backbone and will actually do something to nick this son of a bitch bastard in the bud. God help us!
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
I also thought about when I was little and I would be at my grandmother's house over vacation. She had these porcelain elephants and dolls that she kept in her cabinets as well as some animals carved out of wood. I used to play with those all of the time and I never broke any of them. thats more than I can say for the generations after me. They break everything. Although, thats just an observation. Every generation is good.
Today I was thinking about when I was little and we would go down to my grandmother's condo that she had down in florida.The newness of everything still lingers with me: the carpet between my toes and under my feet, the crisp, clean everything.I remember that I would always get disoriented walking into the front door because the entranceway was lined with mirrors and I would keep walking into mirrors on my way in. HAHA! I also remember the jacuzzi there with all of those jets of water. That was fun.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Libby's Conviction
With Scooter Libby's conviction for purgery in the CIA leak case concerning CIA agent Valerie Plame, Scooter Libby becomes the highest ranking government official to be convicted in a government scandal since John Poindexter was sent to jail for his part in Ronald Reagan's evil doings in the Iran Contra scandal.
We Need A New Underground Railroad
The military just convicted Spc. Agustin Aguayo of desertion for refusing to be deployed to Iraq. We need to stand with these soldiers who are refusing to be deployed and we need to do all we can to help those who wish to become conscientous objectors.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Chavez Says Negroponte Involved In Assassination Plot
The Daily Journal reports that Hugo Chavez has identified John Negroponte's hand in a plot to assassinate the president of Venezuela. Chavez refers to Negroponte as the Bush administration's henchman. Castrate!
Sunday, March 04, 2007
NAACP President Resigns
Hallelujah! They needed to get rid of that man. They only elected him so they could kowtow to George Bush--get a grip, some gumption and a backbone! Bring back Merlie Evers-Williams!!!
Something Interesting That I Was Reminded Of.
French writer, Jean Genet, the flagrant homosexual author, was a guest of the Black Panther Party in the United States during the 1960s.
Anarchists are in the Streets!
Anarchists and other activists are rioting in Copenhagen in protest of police evictions of several squatters from an abandoned building that served as a meeting place for community activists, a building that has been connected with the progressive movements since the 1890s. "Solidarity among people has no borders, just like the Spanish civil war or the youth rebellion in the late 1960s. People recognize themselves in such causes" Rene Kopantschof, University of Copenhagen.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
The Latino Pop Star Chavez is Gay!!
The beautiful latino pop star, Chavez has just come out of the closet--god there's hope!
American Rubbish
The United States is soo trying to do everything it can to get rid of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. I just did a search, trying to find out information about the gorgeous latino pop star, Chavez, and goddamn every newspaper in the United States it seems like has an article bad-mouthing Chavez and what he is doing in Venezuela. Go to hell America and your store-bought press!
The Rich Man's House
Traditional Labor Movement Song
Well I went down to the rich man's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
well I went down to the rich man's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Now he's under my feet, under my feet, under my feet
Ain't gonna let the system walk all over me!
Well I, went down to the Landlord's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Well I, went down to the landlord's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Now he's under my feet, under my feet, under my feet
Ain't gonna let the system walk all over me !
Well I, went down to the Welfare Office I took back
what it stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
well I, went down to the welfare office I took back
what it stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Now it's under my feet, under my feet, under my feet
Ain't gonna let the system walk all over me!
Well I, went down to the Governor's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
well I, went down to the governor's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Now he's under my feet, under my feet, under my feet
Ain't gonna let the system walk all over me!
Well I went down to the rich man's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
well I went down to the rich man's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Now he's under my feet, under my feet, under my feet
Ain't gonna let the system walk all over me!
Well I, went down to the Landlord's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Well I, went down to the landlord's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Now he's under my feet, under my feet, under my feet
Ain't gonna let the system walk all over me !
Well I, went down to the Welfare Office I took back
what it stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
well I, went down to the welfare office I took back
what it stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Now it's under my feet, under my feet, under my feet
Ain't gonna let the system walk all over me!
Well I, went down to the Governor's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
well I, went down to the governor's house and I took back
what he stole from me
took it back
took back my dignity
took it back
took back my humanity
Now he's under my feet, under my feet, under my feet
Ain't gonna let the system walk all over me!
Seize the Time
Elaine Brown
You tell me that the sun belongs
To you and should surround you
But, when I turn to look
I see they've snatched
The sun from all around you.
Why you hardly seem
To want whats yours
You hardly seem to care.
If you love the sun
It's where you've come from
Then you had better dare
To Seize the time
The time is now
Oh,Seize the time
and you know how
You tell me that the soul is real
and your soul must survive.
Yet, I see they've taken liberties
With your souls and your lives.
Don't tell me that you lack concern
For all that you must be
'Cause I know you know you must be turned
And I know that you can see
To Seize the Time
The Time is Now
Oh,Seize the Time
And you know how
You worry about liberty
Because you've been denied.
Well, I think that you're mistaken
Or then you must have lied.
'Cause you don't act like those who care
You've never even fought
For the liberty that you claim to lack
Or have you never thought
To Seize the Time
The Time is Now
Oh Seize the time
And you know how
You tell me that the sun belongs
To you and should surround you
But, when I turn to look
I see they've snatched
The sun from all around you.
Why you hardly seem
To want whats yours
You hardly seem to care.
If you love the sun
It's where you've come from
Then you had better dare
To Seize the time
The time is now
Oh,Seize the time
and you know how
You tell me that the soul is real
and your soul must survive.
Yet, I see they've taken liberties
With your souls and your lives.
Don't tell me that you lack concern
For all that you must be
'Cause I know you know you must be turned
And I know that you can see
To Seize the Time
The Time is Now
Oh,Seize the Time
And you know how
You worry about liberty
Because you've been denied.
Well, I think that you're mistaken
Or then you must have lied.
'Cause you don't act like those who care
You've never even fought
For the liberty that you claim to lack
Or have you never thought
To Seize the Time
The Time is Now
Oh Seize the time
And you know how
Friday, March 02, 2007
Lunar Eclipse Tommorow
Watch the moon tommorow as it is supposed to be in total eclipse and display beautiful colors.
Love Me In A Special Way
I am certainly a fanatical lover of Debarge. This song has been playing through my head all day.
You know you had me
With your sensuous charm
Yet you looked so alarmed
As I walked on by
In awsome wonder
You had to know why i did not respond to carry on
Chorus:
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now (love me now)
Cause Im special
Not the average kind
Who'd accept any line
That sounds good
So reach into your chain of thoughts
Try to find something new
Because what worked for you so well before
For me it just wont do.
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now (love me now)
So reach into your chain of thoughts
Try to find something new
What works so well with you before
For me it just wont do
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now (love me now)
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now (love me now)
You know you had me
With your sensuous charm
Yet you looked so alarmed
As I walked on by
In awsome wonder
You had to know why i did not respond to carry on
Chorus:
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now (love me now)
Cause Im special
Not the average kind
Who'd accept any line
That sounds good
So reach into your chain of thoughts
Try to find something new
Because what worked for you so well before
For me it just wont do.
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now (love me now)
So reach into your chain of thoughts
Try to find something new
What works so well with you before
For me it just wont do
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now (love me now)
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now
Love me in a special way
What more can I say
Love me now (love me now)
Thursday, March 01, 2007
God, What Destruction
Enterprise, Alabama has been torn to shreds by tornadoes. Thankfully my people are ok. That community has been devastated though.
Israeli Socialism: A Lost Cause?
From The Christian Science Monitor
KIBBUTZ GAASH, ISRAEL
The leaders of this agricultural commune - once young communists with visions of an agrarian Jewish state - say they are now prepared to take a once-unthinkable step: embracing the free market.
Kibbutz Gaash, a collective that has already replaced chicken coops with a strip mall, may be on the verge of rejecting its collectivist roots and privatizing. If it does, as an upcoming vote is expected to decide, it will provide further evidence that the era of the iconic kibbutz is over.
Mostly secular and leftist, kibbutzes were hailed as the building block of the Zionist enterprise, the crucible in which to remold the old-world Jew as the new Israeli.
But modern pressures mean communes must cope with bank debt, attrition, and the waning collectivist spirit.
What this U-turn means for the shrinking number of kibbutzniks is that they'll be living like most other Israelis: collecting a paycheck, competing on the open market, and balancing their own budget.
Stacked on the desk of Kibbutz Gaash Chairman Hanan Rogalin is the soon-to-be-voted-on plan to scrap the commune's egalitarian dream and allow members to live according to their own earning power.
"The contemporary kibbutz doesn't provide answers for life needs, and most important in my eyes, people's aspirations," says Mr. Rogalin. "The kibbutz creates too much friction. The secretariat dictates too many things to members. And people want more freedom to take responsibility for their lives."
The process of privatization among kibbutzes has been quietly proceeding for years, though two weeks ago, Israelis took notice when Kibbutz Degania, the first kibbutz established on the Sea of Galilee in 1909, took the step.
With two-thirds of the 273 kibbutzes across Israel already privatized, the demise of Degania was a ringing reminder of the seemingly inevitable extinction of the kibbutz as Israelis know it.
"Does the kibbutz have a chance?" asked an opinion article that mourned Degania on the movement's website. "As long as man feels in his soul the need to be in a society built on the bedrock of justice, of equality, of camaraderie, of mutual commitment and solidarity - there's a chance."
Frontiers of the new state
The communal agricultural estates laid down the fresh roots of Jewish settlement in the biblical land of Israel, assuring a degree of economic independence for the fledgling state. The communities were given the task of settling what would become the frontiers of the new state.
"The kibbutz was an attempt to create a miracle and transcend human nature. By trying to create a miracle, the kibbutz was instinctively seen by Jews as a worthy symbol of the miraculous return to Zion," says Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at Jerusalem's Shalem Institute.
"We're so past the point of being shocked by the decline of the collectivist dream that this isn't a moment that took anyone by surprise. Nevertheless there's poignancy.... We've lost something precious and essential in what defines Israeliness," he says.
Kibbutz members once dominated parliament and key spots in Israel's lionized military. Though secular and leftist, the movement, with its pioneering activism, inspired religious Jews who settled in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after 1967.
With large tracts of public land to cultivate, the kibbutz followed directives from the Israeli Agricultural Ministry on what to grow. "We didn't think if we were earning or losing money, we thought about what was good for the country," says Yossi Katz, founder of Kibbutz Gaash. "We were sure the entire country would become socialist."
Walking past the old boarded-up dining hall and the seedy building that housed Gaash's first chicken coop, he acknowledges that the kibbutz lifestyle could be oppressive and suffocating.
The kibbutz compelled members to turn over possessions for public use. Children were raised in communal dorms rather than in parents' homes. Social life revolved around the dining hall. A kibbutz committee approved plans for higher education and careers. Whoever left was considered a traitor.
With the ascension of the right-wing Likud party to power in the 1980s, the government cut off generous subsidies that exposed waste and unprofitable kibbutz operations, as well as billions of dollars in debt. A $17 billion bailout made the kibbutzes seem spoiled rather than selfless.
Meanwhile, observing Israel's growing prosperity, kibbutzniks lost sight of the ideals behind their Spartan existence and began seeking the same creature comforts. The collapse of the Soviet Union and communism also had an impact. In the past 20 years, the kibbutzes have lost one-fourth of their population and members today number 120,000, a small fraction of Israel's 7 million people.
"I know that if I work hard, that I'll earn the same as the person living next to me who works less," explains Sharon Tirosh, director of human resources at Gaash, who also supports the change. "There is something in the education, that begins at the bottom, that there's no point in being terribly successful."
Postprivatization kibbutzes cut down on waste, and experience a jump in member's earning power of almost 40 percent, says Rogalin, Kibbutz Gaash's secretary. Members keep their pay, and pay fees for services. They also contribute to a social safety-net fund. In addition to ideological stress, it has worried people afraid of providing for themselves for the first time.
"If someone gets used to something for years, and suddenly it's taken away, they lose focus," says Rogalin, who isn't willing to bet whether the proposal will get the 75-percent support necessary to pass.
Kibbutz ethic, high-tech times
At stake is the survival of economic enterprises - agriculture is now only a small part of kibbutz businesses that range from wineries to commercial real estate - employing some 30,000 workers, with combined output of $7.4 billion, in a $114.3 billion economy.
What remains of the kibbutz ethic of self-sacrifice, activism, and egalitarianism is unclear. In Israel's high-tech economy, do the old kibbutzes have a role to play?
Rogalin says that their role will be to cultivate a quality education system that will teach children values of social justice. And with a safety net for members, the kibbutz hopes to remain a model of social welfare in a society with a large gap between rich and poor.
Whatever the decision, founder Mr. Katz knows that the ideals upon which Gaash was founded are no longer attainable. "At my age, I've reached the conclusion that humans are egotists, and like to keep things for themselves rather than the general public," he says. "The idea that everyone will eat from the same plate doesn't exist anymore. I've done my part. It's over. We aren't an example for anyone."
KIBBUTZ GAASH, ISRAEL
The leaders of this agricultural commune - once young communists with visions of an agrarian Jewish state - say they are now prepared to take a once-unthinkable step: embracing the free market.
Kibbutz Gaash, a collective that has already replaced chicken coops with a strip mall, may be on the verge of rejecting its collectivist roots and privatizing. If it does, as an upcoming vote is expected to decide, it will provide further evidence that the era of the iconic kibbutz is over.
Mostly secular and leftist, kibbutzes were hailed as the building block of the Zionist enterprise, the crucible in which to remold the old-world Jew as the new Israeli.
But modern pressures mean communes must cope with bank debt, attrition, and the waning collectivist spirit.
What this U-turn means for the shrinking number of kibbutzniks is that they'll be living like most other Israelis: collecting a paycheck, competing on the open market, and balancing their own budget.
Stacked on the desk of Kibbutz Gaash Chairman Hanan Rogalin is the soon-to-be-voted-on plan to scrap the commune's egalitarian dream and allow members to live according to their own earning power.
"The contemporary kibbutz doesn't provide answers for life needs, and most important in my eyes, people's aspirations," says Mr. Rogalin. "The kibbutz creates too much friction. The secretariat dictates too many things to members. And people want more freedom to take responsibility for their lives."
The process of privatization among kibbutzes has been quietly proceeding for years, though two weeks ago, Israelis took notice when Kibbutz Degania, the first kibbutz established on the Sea of Galilee in 1909, took the step.
With two-thirds of the 273 kibbutzes across Israel already privatized, the demise of Degania was a ringing reminder of the seemingly inevitable extinction of the kibbutz as Israelis know it.
"Does the kibbutz have a chance?" asked an opinion article that mourned Degania on the movement's website. "As long as man feels in his soul the need to be in a society built on the bedrock of justice, of equality, of camaraderie, of mutual commitment and solidarity - there's a chance."
Frontiers of the new state
The communal agricultural estates laid down the fresh roots of Jewish settlement in the biblical land of Israel, assuring a degree of economic independence for the fledgling state. The communities were given the task of settling what would become the frontiers of the new state.
"The kibbutz was an attempt to create a miracle and transcend human nature. By trying to create a miracle, the kibbutz was instinctively seen by Jews as a worthy symbol of the miraculous return to Zion," says Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at Jerusalem's Shalem Institute.
"We're so past the point of being shocked by the decline of the collectivist dream that this isn't a moment that took anyone by surprise. Nevertheless there's poignancy.... We've lost something precious and essential in what defines Israeliness," he says.
Kibbutz members once dominated parliament and key spots in Israel's lionized military. Though secular and leftist, the movement, with its pioneering activism, inspired religious Jews who settled in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after 1967.
With large tracts of public land to cultivate, the kibbutz followed directives from the Israeli Agricultural Ministry on what to grow. "We didn't think if we were earning or losing money, we thought about what was good for the country," says Yossi Katz, founder of Kibbutz Gaash. "We were sure the entire country would become socialist."
Walking past the old boarded-up dining hall and the seedy building that housed Gaash's first chicken coop, he acknowledges that the kibbutz lifestyle could be oppressive and suffocating.
The kibbutz compelled members to turn over possessions for public use. Children were raised in communal dorms rather than in parents' homes. Social life revolved around the dining hall. A kibbutz committee approved plans for higher education and careers. Whoever left was considered a traitor.
With the ascension of the right-wing Likud party to power in the 1980s, the government cut off generous subsidies that exposed waste and unprofitable kibbutz operations, as well as billions of dollars in debt. A $17 billion bailout made the kibbutzes seem spoiled rather than selfless.
Meanwhile, observing Israel's growing prosperity, kibbutzniks lost sight of the ideals behind their Spartan existence and began seeking the same creature comforts. The collapse of the Soviet Union and communism also had an impact. In the past 20 years, the kibbutzes have lost one-fourth of their population and members today number 120,000, a small fraction of Israel's 7 million people.
"I know that if I work hard, that I'll earn the same as the person living next to me who works less," explains Sharon Tirosh, director of human resources at Gaash, who also supports the change. "There is something in the education, that begins at the bottom, that there's no point in being terribly successful."
Postprivatization kibbutzes cut down on waste, and experience a jump in member's earning power of almost 40 percent, says Rogalin, Kibbutz Gaash's secretary. Members keep their pay, and pay fees for services. They also contribute to a social safety-net fund. In addition to ideological stress, it has worried people afraid of providing for themselves for the first time.
"If someone gets used to something for years, and suddenly it's taken away, they lose focus," says Rogalin, who isn't willing to bet whether the proposal will get the 75-percent support necessary to pass.
Kibbutz ethic, high-tech times
At stake is the survival of economic enterprises - agriculture is now only a small part of kibbutz businesses that range from wineries to commercial real estate - employing some 30,000 workers, with combined output of $7.4 billion, in a $114.3 billion economy.
What remains of the kibbutz ethic of self-sacrifice, activism, and egalitarianism is unclear. In Israel's high-tech economy, do the old kibbutzes have a role to play?
Rogalin says that their role will be to cultivate a quality education system that will teach children values of social justice. And with a safety net for members, the kibbutz hopes to remain a model of social welfare in a society with a large gap between rich and poor.
Whatever the decision, founder Mr. Katz knows that the ideals upon which Gaash was founded are no longer attainable. "At my age, I've reached the conclusion that humans are egotists, and like to keep things for themselves rather than the general public," he says. "The idea that everyone will eat from the same plate doesn't exist anymore. I've done my part. It's over. We aren't an example for anyone."
Bridges
Diane Reeves
Bridges
I have crossed a thousand bridges
In my search for something real
There were great suspension bridges
Made like spider webs of steel
There were tinny wooden trestles
And there were bridges made of stone
I have always been a stranger and
I’ve always been alone
There’s a bridge to tomorrow
There’s a bridge to the past
There’s a bridge made of sorrow
That I pray will not last
There’s a bridge made of color
In the sky high above
And I pray that there must be
Bridges made out of love
I can see him in the distance
On the river’s other shore
And his arms reach out in longing
As my own have done before
And I call across to tell him
Where I believe the bridge must lie
And I’ll find it
Yes I’ll find it
If I search until I die
When the bridges is between us
We’ll have nothing to say
We will run thru the sunlight
And he’ll meet me halfway
There’s a bridge made of color
In the sky high above
And I know that there must be
Bridges made out of love
Bridges
I have crossed a thousand bridges
In my search for something real
There were great suspension bridges
Made like spider webs of steel
There were tinny wooden trestles
And there were bridges made of stone
I have always been a stranger and
I’ve always been alone
There’s a bridge to tomorrow
There’s a bridge to the past
There’s a bridge made of sorrow
That I pray will not last
There’s a bridge made of color
In the sky high above
And I pray that there must be
Bridges made out of love
I can see him in the distance
On the river’s other shore
And his arms reach out in longing
As my own have done before
And I call across to tell him
Where I believe the bridge must lie
And I’ll find it
Yes I’ll find it
If I search until I die
When the bridges is between us
We’ll have nothing to say
We will run thru the sunlight
And he’ll meet me halfway
There’s a bridge made of color
In the sky high above
And I know that there must be
Bridges made out of love
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Maya Angelou's Interview with Cousin Betty
In the interview that Maya Angelou conducted with my cousin Betty Deramus, there was something very profound said that really sticks to me and is something to consider. Cousin Betty said that when she was in South Africa during the time when they were struggling to end apartheid, she asked a white south african whether or not he was afraid of the violence that would consume the country. He replied that he was not afraid because his house was well-insulated, well-padded and locked, etc. Cousin Betty's thought to this was that those who work to imprison someone else also imprison themselves....It is something to think about. Maya Angelou followed this with discussing the example of a person trying to keep someone pushed down to the ground--the one pushing down is also keeping him or herself down and exerts a negative force while the one pushing up exerts a positive force...a liberatory force. This was a very intriguing dialogue and powerful thoughts.
Dare I Laugh?
Haha!! It seems that Bush and Condoleeza will have to sit down and face the Iranians....unless this is some kind of prank. Oh the progressive struggle!!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Here is a Link the the 16th Cuba International Book Fair
This looks like a wonderful event with writers and publishers from all over the world including writer Wole Soyinka from Nigeria and thousands of books from Africa, Latin America, and Europe.
This Is One of Those Moments
There are moments you remember all your life.
There are moments you wait for ans1 dream,
Of all your life.
This is one of those moments.
I will always remember this chair,
that window, the way the light streams in.
The clothes I'm wearing,
The words I'm heating,
The face I'm seeing,
The feeling I'm feeling,
The smell, the sounds, will be written
On my mind, will be written in my heart
As long as I live!
I can, travel the past and take what I need
To see me through the years
What my father learned and his
Father before him will be there
For my eyes and ears.
I can walk through the forests
Of the trees of knowledge
And listen to the lessons of the leaves.
I can enter rooms
Were there are rooms within rooms
Wrapped in the shawl that learning weaves.
I remember, Papa-everything you taught me
What you gave me, Papa-
Look at what it's brought me
There are certain things that once you have
No man can take away-
No wave can wash away-
No wind can blow away-
And now they're about to be mine!
No tide can turn away-
No fire can burn away-
No time can wear away...
I can open doors and take from the shelves
All the books I've longed to hold
I can ask all the questions,
The whys and the wheres
As the mysteries of life unfold
Like a link in a chain
From the past to the future
That joins me with the children yet to be,
I can now be a part
Of the ongoing stream,
That has always been a part of me!
There are certain things that once you have
No man can rake away-
No wave can wash away-
No wind can blow away-
No tide can turn away-
No fire can burn away-
No time can wear away-
And now they're about to be mine!
There are moments you remember all your life.
There are moments you wait for
And dream, of all your life.
This is one of those moments!
There are moments you wait for ans1 dream,
Of all your life.
This is one of those moments.
I will always remember this chair,
that window, the way the light streams in.
The clothes I'm wearing,
The words I'm heating,
The face I'm seeing,
The feeling I'm feeling,
The smell, the sounds, will be written
On my mind, will be written in my heart
As long as I live!
I can, travel the past and take what I need
To see me through the years
What my father learned and his
Father before him will be there
For my eyes and ears.
I can walk through the forests
Of the trees of knowledge
And listen to the lessons of the leaves.
I can enter rooms
Were there are rooms within rooms
Wrapped in the shawl that learning weaves.
I remember, Papa-everything you taught me
What you gave me, Papa-
Look at what it's brought me
There are certain things that once you have
No man can take away-
No wave can wash away-
No wind can blow away-
And now they're about to be mine!
No tide can turn away-
No fire can burn away-
No time can wear away...
I can open doors and take from the shelves
All the books I've longed to hold
I can ask all the questions,
The whys and the wheres
As the mysteries of life unfold
Like a link in a chain
From the past to the future
That joins me with the children yet to be,
I can now be a part
Of the ongoing stream,
That has always been a part of me!
There are certain things that once you have
No man can rake away-
No wave can wash away-
No wind can blow away-
No tide can turn away-
No fire can burn away-
No time can wear away-
And now they're about to be mine!
There are moments you remember all your life.
There are moments you wait for
And dream, of all your life.
This is one of those moments!
Monday, February 26, 2007
PillowTalk
Sylvia
I, I, I, I, I
Hey, baby, let me stay
I don't care what your friends are 'bout to say, ah-ah
What you friends all say is fine
But it can't compete with this pillow talk of mine
You can't find love on a one way street
It takes two to tangle, takes two to even compete, oh, yeah
So boy, just put that stop sign down
And let's get together before the day runs us down
I'm pleading to you now
Hey, baby, let me try
To be the one's who's gonna light your fire, ha-ha
What you friends all say is fine
But it can't compete with this pillow talk of mine
Ooh, I don't wanna see you be no fool
What I'm teachin' you tonight, boy, you'll never learn it in school, oh, no
So friends who tell me wrong from right
I'll ask to borrow their pants some cold and lonely night
Ooh, hey, baby, let me be
The one who turns you on from A to Z, ha-ha
What you friends all say is fine
But it can't compete with this pillow talk of mine
Ooh...baby
Ooh, baby, la-la-la-la-la-la-la
Ah...would you, baby
Would you, baby, la-la-la-la-la-la-la
I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I
Uno momento por quito
Uno momento por quito
I, I, I, I
Nice daddy, nice daddy, nice daddy
I, I, I, I
Oh, my God
I, I, I, I, I
Hey, baby, let me stay
I don't care what your friends are 'bout to say, ah-ah
What you friends all say is fine
But it can't compete with this pillow talk of mine
You can't find love on a one way street
It takes two to tangle, takes two to even compete, oh, yeah
So boy, just put that stop sign down
And let's get together before the day runs us down
I'm pleading to you now
Hey, baby, let me try
To be the one's who's gonna light your fire, ha-ha
What you friends all say is fine
But it can't compete with this pillow talk of mine
Ooh, I don't wanna see you be no fool
What I'm teachin' you tonight, boy, you'll never learn it in school, oh, no
So friends who tell me wrong from right
I'll ask to borrow their pants some cold and lonely night
Ooh, hey, baby, let me be
The one who turns you on from A to Z, ha-ha
What you friends all say is fine
But it can't compete with this pillow talk of mine
Ooh...baby
Ooh, baby, la-la-la-la-la-la-la
Ah...would you, baby
Would you, baby, la-la-la-la-la-la-la
I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I
Uno momento por quito
Uno momento por quito
I, I, I, I
Nice daddy, nice daddy, nice daddy
I, I, I, I
Oh, my God
Close Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Prison
There should be a concerted effort to close both the prison and naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The prison is the site of horrendous human rights abuses carried out by the United States and the entire naval base is illegally present on the island of cuba as the land and on which it sits rightfully belongs to Cuba. Close it down!
Best Dressed
My picks for the Best Dressed definitely have to be Naomi Watts, Jennifer Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz,and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Oscars
Congratulations to Jennifer Hudson!!! Hooray!! Kudos to Helen Mirren and Forrest Whitaker as well! Now that they have given Martin Scorese an Oscar for Best Director, they need to give one to Barbra Streisand!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
A Wow Moment
I know that Al Sharpton is blown out of his mind by the revelation that he is related to Strom Thurmond. Well, at least he is also related to Strom Thurmond's Black Daughter. Also, he isnt the only Black person to be related to racist, evil white men from the south. Lena Horne's great-great grandfather was John C. Calhoun, the staunch pro-slavery senator from South Carolina.
IFC/ Spirit Awards
Its sad when the IndependentFilm Awards are hopelessly bought off and conformist.
Its a Start
The state of Virginia has officially apologized for slavery. I think it is a bold and hopefully well-intended move...now to bring the rest of this country forward.
A Message from Activists
Friends:
At 12:10 a.m. this morning, Toledo police arrived at Rep. Marcy Kaptur's office and told 10 members of the NW Ohio Peace Coalition who had been there nearly 15 hours, that they had to leave the building. 4 members of NWOPC: Jeff Klein, Steve Miller, Larry Coleman, and Trudy Bond replied they were prepared to be arrested and the other 6 of us (we started with 17 earlier) then left. The arresting officer said they were going to be charged with criminal tresspass, taken to the jail and booked where they would "likely" be released on o.r. sometime later this morning.
Terry Lodge, attorney for the four, said they were released in the early morning hours per a standing Federal Court order on overcrowded conditions in the Lucas County Jail. He will schedule a pretrial appearance for the activists in the near future.
During our stay in Kaptur's office as part of the Occupation Project, we talked informally with several of the staff and met for about 30 minutes with Steve Katich, chief of staff. He explained the purpose of Marcy's trip to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq which she is currently on, as being primarily to thank the troops, and get a better understanding of the needs of the military as the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, on which she is second most senior to Rep. Murtha, starts to shape the Bush administration's $93,000,000,000 request into specific legislation.
We made our position clear to him that Marcy should vote the whole request down; that there is sufficient money from previous supplemental spending bills and in the general Dept. of Defense budget to provide for the needs of the troops currently in Iraq and bring them home. We reiterated our position that we wanted Marcy to sign a pledge to that effect or we would not leave the office voluntarily.
He said several times that we and Marcy were on the same side of the issue of the Iraq war, and cited her many statements against the war, her membership in the House "Out of Iraq" caucus, and her vote against the use of force just prior to the U.S. invasion in 2003. He added that Marcy has consistently called for diplomatic means to be used as the way to end the conflict.
We responded that all those points were admirable, but that despite her initial vote against the war and her subsequent statements of concern, she has voted for 6 out of 7 bills to fund the conflict.
One NWOPC member participating in the day-long sit-in, Peggy Daly-Masternak, explained to Katich that, paricularly now with Kaptur being on the delegation to Iraq, signing a pledge to vote against the war money would be historic and help assure the war was brought to an end. She asked him what Kaptur or anyone would say to the families of those killed during period when a "diplomatic approach" was being pursued and money was still being voted for the war?
Nancy Roffey told Katich that the War Powers Act should be used to end the fighting.
Katich made it clear he really didn't want to have any of us arrested, and kept the office open with three staff people beyond the usual closing time of 5:30 pm until 11 pm, hoping we would leave before the building management closed the whole facitity at 11. Kaptur's staff was hospitable and supportive throughout our stay.
Throughout the day we took turns reading the name, rank, and home state of each of the 3,184 U.S. troops killed in Iraq, plus several hundred names and ages of the nearly 1,000,000 Iraqis killed in the war.
Mary Anthony, a member of Military Families Speak Out with a son on his second deployment to the Middle East, worked the phone diligently during the day to update local news outlets.
Commenting on Kaptur's stance and Katich's characterization that she "is on your side," Lodge later said, "How can she be on a side when she's sitting on the fence? She's so much like junk food: tasty, empty calories signifying nothing and unhealthy to boot."
A vote is expected on this latest "supplemental" spending request for the war, around March 14.
Check with the Occupation Project, linked above, for ways you can join people around the nation pressuring their elected officials to cut the money and stop the war.
Mike Ferner
www.mikeferner.org
At 12:10 a.m. this morning, Toledo police arrived at Rep. Marcy Kaptur's office and told 10 members of the NW Ohio Peace Coalition who had been there nearly 15 hours, that they had to leave the building. 4 members of NWOPC: Jeff Klein, Steve Miller, Larry Coleman, and Trudy Bond replied they were prepared to be arrested and the other 6 of us (we started with 17 earlier) then left. The arresting officer said they were going to be charged with criminal tresspass, taken to the jail and booked where they would "likely" be released on o.r. sometime later this morning.
Terry Lodge, attorney for the four, said they were released in the early morning hours per a standing Federal Court order on overcrowded conditions in the Lucas County Jail. He will schedule a pretrial appearance for the activists in the near future.
During our stay in Kaptur's office as part of the Occupation Project, we talked informally with several of the staff and met for about 30 minutes with Steve Katich, chief of staff. He explained the purpose of Marcy's trip to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq which she is currently on, as being primarily to thank the troops, and get a better understanding of the needs of the military as the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, on which she is second most senior to Rep. Murtha, starts to shape the Bush administration's $93,000,000,000 request into specific legislation.
We made our position clear to him that Marcy should vote the whole request down; that there is sufficient money from previous supplemental spending bills and in the general Dept. of Defense budget to provide for the needs of the troops currently in Iraq and bring them home. We reiterated our position that we wanted Marcy to sign a pledge to that effect or we would not leave the office voluntarily.
He said several times that we and Marcy were on the same side of the issue of the Iraq war, and cited her many statements against the war, her membership in the House "Out of Iraq" caucus, and her vote against the use of force just prior to the U.S. invasion in 2003. He added that Marcy has consistently called for diplomatic means to be used as the way to end the conflict.
We responded that all those points were admirable, but that despite her initial vote against the war and her subsequent statements of concern, she has voted for 6 out of 7 bills to fund the conflict.
One NWOPC member participating in the day-long sit-in, Peggy Daly-Masternak, explained to Katich that, paricularly now with Kaptur being on the delegation to Iraq, signing a pledge to vote against the war money would be historic and help assure the war was brought to an end. She asked him what Kaptur or anyone would say to the families of those killed during period when a "diplomatic approach" was being pursued and money was still being voted for the war?
Nancy Roffey told Katich that the War Powers Act should be used to end the fighting.
Katich made it clear he really didn't want to have any of us arrested, and kept the office open with three staff people beyond the usual closing time of 5:30 pm until 11 pm, hoping we would leave before the building management closed the whole facitity at 11. Kaptur's staff was hospitable and supportive throughout our stay.
Throughout the day we took turns reading the name, rank, and home state of each of the 3,184 U.S. troops killed in Iraq, plus several hundred names and ages of the nearly 1,000,000 Iraqis killed in the war.
Mary Anthony, a member of Military Families Speak Out with a son on his second deployment to the Middle East, worked the phone diligently during the day to update local news outlets.
Commenting on Kaptur's stance and Katich's characterization that she "is on your side," Lodge later said, "How can she be on a side when she's sitting on the fence? She's so much like junk food: tasty, empty calories signifying nothing and unhealthy to boot."
A vote is expected on this latest "supplemental" spending request for the war, around March 14.
Check with the Occupation Project, linked above, for ways you can join people around the nation pressuring their elected officials to cut the money and stop the war.
Mike Ferner
www.mikeferner.org
Friday, February 23, 2007
Musings on Afro-Americans, The United States, and the World.
I think that the test of the future will be who will control the minds of Afro-Americans--white capitalism or will Afro-Americans exist within the context of a revolutionary freedom.
Colin Powell Speaks at Purdue
Last night Colin Powell visited Purdue and gave a very unsurprising and very by the book speech. As a means of protest, we handed out flyers discussing Colin Powell's part in involving the United States in this quagmire that is now in Iraq. The more interesting things of the night happened not in the speech, but with what happened as we handed out fliers. As I finished up handing out the flyers, a girl came up to me and the following exchange took place.
She said "what you are doing is so rude!"
My reply was, "well, killing people is rude as well."
Her reply to that was "What?! That doesn't even make any sense!"
Mhm...enough said
She said "what you are doing is so rude!"
My reply was, "well, killing people is rude as well."
Her reply to that was "What?! That doesn't even make any sense!"
Mhm...enough said
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Black Butterfly
Deniece Williams
Morning light, silken dream to flight
As the darkness gave way to dawn
You've survived, now your moment has arrived
Now your dream has finally been born
Chorus:
Black Butterfly, sailed across the waters
tell your sons and daughters
what the struggle brings
Black Butterfly, set the skies on fire
rise up even higher
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings
ooh...ooh
While you slept, the promise was unkept
But your faith was as sure as the stars
Now you're free, and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are
Black Butterfly, sailed across the waters
tell your sons and daughters
what the struggle brings
Black Butterfly, set the skies on fire
rise up even higher
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings
Let the current lift your heart and send it soaring
Write the timeless message clear across the sky
So that all of can read it and remember when we need it
That a dream conceived in truth can never die
Butterfly
Cause now that you're free and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are
Black Butterfly, sailed across the waters
tell your sons and daughters
what the struggle brings
Black Butterfly, set the skies on fire
rise up even higher
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings
Fly
Butterfly
Yeah, yeah, yes
Fly
Intolerance and Bigotry in Fort Wayne
The Fort Wayne/East Allen County school district has threatened to fire a teacher--and has tried to walk all over one of their student's civil rights due to an editorial published in a high school newspaper advocating tolerance of homosexuality. I believe this child's parents should sue the fuck out of the school district and the principal should be castrated as he sounds like a mother fucker.
Abolish the Military Commissions Act
Congress has allowed this administration to destroy every shred of human decency secured under the Geneva Convention and with the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. We need to have this legislation renounced.
The Internationale
Arise ye workers from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We'll change henceforth [forthwith] the old tradition [conditions]
And spurn the dust to win the prize.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.
No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
E'er the thieves will out with their booty [give up their booty]
And give to all a happier lot.
Each [those] at the forge must do their duty
And we'll strike while the iron is hot.
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We'll change henceforth [forthwith] the old tradition [conditions]
And spurn the dust to win the prize.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.
No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
E'er the thieves will out with their booty [give up their booty]
And give to all a happier lot.
Each [those] at the forge must do their duty
And we'll strike while the iron is hot.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Zoomin'
Lionel Richie
I may be just a foolish dreamer
But I don't care
'Cause I know my happiness is waiting out there somewhere
I'm searching for that silver lining
Horizons that I've never seen
Oh I'd like to take just a moment and dream my dream
Dream my dream
Zoom
I'd like to fly afr away from here
Where my mind is fresh and clear
And I'd find the love that I long to see
Where everybody can be what they wanna be
I'd like to greet the sun each morning
And walk amongst the stars at night
I'd like to know the taste of honey in my life
Well I've shared so many pains
And I've played so many games
But everyone finds the right way
Somehow
Somewhere
Someday
Zoom
I'd like to fly away far from here
Where my mind can be fresh and clear
And I'd find the love that I long to see
People can be what they wanna be
I wish the world were truly happy
Living as one
I wish the word they call freedom someday would come
Someday would come
Zoom
I'd like to fly far away from here
where my mind can be fresh and clear
And find the love that I long to see
Everybody acn be what they wanna be
Zoom
I'd like to fly away
Zoom
I'd like to fly away
Zoom
I'd like to fly away
You and me baby
Walking free
Don't you wanna go?
Don't you wanna go?
I may be just a foolish dreamer
But I don't care
'Cause I know my happiness is waiting out there somewhere
I'm searching for that silver lining
Horizons that I've never seen
Oh I'd like to take just a moment and dream my dream
Dream my dream
Zoom
I'd like to fly afr away from here
Where my mind is fresh and clear
And I'd find the love that I long to see
Where everybody can be what they wanna be
I'd like to greet the sun each morning
And walk amongst the stars at night
I'd like to know the taste of honey in my life
Well I've shared so many pains
And I've played so many games
But everyone finds the right way
Somehow
Somewhere
Someday
Zoom
I'd like to fly away far from here
Where my mind can be fresh and clear
And I'd find the love that I long to see
People can be what they wanna be
I wish the world were truly happy
Living as one
I wish the word they call freedom someday would come
Someday would come
Zoom
I'd like to fly far away from here
where my mind can be fresh and clear
And find the love that I long to see
Everybody acn be what they wanna be
Zoom
I'd like to fly away
Zoom
I'd like to fly away
Zoom
I'd like to fly away
You and me baby
Walking free
Don't you wanna go?
Don't you wanna go?
2007 Presidential Politics
They are already beginning to play the Black male against the white female.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Presidential Election
I hope that Barak OBama and Hillary Clinton realize how very much they owe to Shirley Chisolm
Abuse of Guantanamo Prisoners in the Courts
This country will pay for what it does to people. The courts have just denied the prisoners at Guantanamo their right to sue over their treatment there.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Truth No. 2
Dixie Chicks
You don't like the sound of the truth
Coming from my mouth
You say that I lack the proof
Well baby that might be so
I might get to the end of my life
Find out everyone was lying
I don't think that I'm afraid anymore say that I would rather die trying
Woh-oh
Swing me way down south
Sing me something brave from your mouth
And I'll bring you
Pearls of water on my hips
And the love in my lips
All the love from my lips
This time when he swung the bat
And I found myself laying flat I wondered
What a way to spend a dime
What a way to use the time, ain't it baby
I looked at my reflection in the window walking past
And I saw a stranger
Just so scared all the time it makes me one more reason
Why the world's dangerous
Woh-oh
Swing me way down south
Sing me something brave from your mouth
And I'll bring you
Pearls of water on my hips
And the love in my lips
All the love from my lips
You don't like the sound of the truth
Coming from my mouth
You say that I lack the proof
Well baby that might be so
Tell me what's wrong with having a little faith
In what you're feeling in your heart
Why must we be so afraid
And always so far apart
Woh-oh
Swing me way down south
Sing me something brave from your mouth
And I'll bring you
Pearls of water on my hips
And the love in my lips
All the love from my lips
You don't like the sound of the truth
Coming from my mouth
You say that I lack the proof
Well baby that might be so
I might get to the end of my life
Find out everyone was lying
I don't think that I'm afraid anymore say that I would rather die trying
Woh-oh
Swing me way down south
Sing me something brave from your mouth
And I'll bring you
Pearls of water on my hips
And the love in my lips
All the love from my lips
This time when he swung the bat
And I found myself laying flat I wondered
What a way to spend a dime
What a way to use the time, ain't it baby
I looked at my reflection in the window walking past
And I saw a stranger
Just so scared all the time it makes me one more reason
Why the world's dangerous
Woh-oh
Swing me way down south
Sing me something brave from your mouth
And I'll bring you
Pearls of water on my hips
And the love in my lips
All the love from my lips
You don't like the sound of the truth
Coming from my mouth
You say that I lack the proof
Well baby that might be so
Tell me what's wrong with having a little faith
In what you're feeling in your heart
Why must we be so afraid
And always so far apart
Woh-oh
Swing me way down south
Sing me something brave from your mouth
And I'll bring you
Pearls of water on my hips
And the love in my lips
All the love from my lips
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Move On
Barbra from Back to Broadway
You are complete, Yes, you are your own;
We do not belong together.
You are complete, just you all alone.
I am unfinished, I am diminished
With or without you.
We do not belong together,
And we should have belonged together.
What made it so right together
Is what made it all wrong.
No one is you and no one can be,
But others will do though.
No one is you, no, there we agree,
But no one is me, no, no one is me!
We do not belong together,
And we'll never belong...
There's nothing to say,
I cannot be what you want,
I did what I had to do,
Now it's up to you...
Move on...
Stop worrying where you're going,
Move on.
If you can go where you're going,
You've gone.
Just keep moving on...
I chose and my world was shaking, So what?
The choice may have been mistaken,
The chosing was not,
You have to move on.
Look at what you want
Not what might have been
Only what could be.
Look at all the things you did for me.
Opened up my eyes, taught me how to see,
Notice every tree,
Trust myself enough to move on,
I want to explore the world,
I want to find how to get through
Through this something new,
Something of my own.
Move on, move on!
Stop wondering which direction is right.
You think that you found perfection
And then overnight you keep moving on.
Look at what you want, not at where you are
Think of what you have, what can be?
Look at all the things you gave to me,
Let me give to you something in return.
Think of what we have,
Not the things we couldn't share,
Just the best of what was there
Like the care, and the feeling,
And the life moving on.
We do not belong together,
And we should have belonged together.
We have to move on,
Settle for the glow, time for letting go
Now the moment's gone...
Time for moving on.
Move on...
Move on...
Move on...
You are complete, Yes, you are your own;
We do not belong together.
You are complete, just you all alone.
I am unfinished, I am diminished
With or without you.
We do not belong together,
And we should have belonged together.
What made it so right together
Is what made it all wrong.
No one is you and no one can be,
But others will do though.
No one is you, no, there we agree,
But no one is me, no, no one is me!
We do not belong together,
And we'll never belong...
There's nothing to say,
I cannot be what you want,
I did what I had to do,
Now it's up to you...
Move on...
Stop worrying where you're going,
Move on.
If you can go where you're going,
You've gone.
Just keep moving on...
I chose and my world was shaking, So what?
The choice may have been mistaken,
The chosing was not,
You have to move on.
Look at what you want
Not what might have been
Only what could be.
Look at all the things you did for me.
Opened up my eyes, taught me how to see,
Notice every tree,
Trust myself enough to move on,
I want to explore the world,
I want to find how to get through
Through this something new,
Something of my own.
Move on, move on!
Stop wondering which direction is right.
You think that you found perfection
And then overnight you keep moving on.
Look at what you want, not at where you are
Think of what you have, what can be?
Look at all the things you gave to me,
Let me give to you something in return.
Think of what we have,
Not the things we couldn't share,
Just the best of what was there
Like the care, and the feeling,
And the life moving on.
We do not belong together,
And we should have belonged together.
We have to move on,
Settle for the glow, time for letting go
Now the moment's gone...
Time for moving on.
Move on...
Move on...
Move on...
Friday, February 16, 2007
GoodBye Earl
The Dixie Chicks
Mary Anne and Wanda were the best of friends
All through their high school days
Both members of the 4H Club
Both active in the FFA
After graduation Mary Anne went out lookin'for a bright new world
Wanda looked all around this town
and all she found was Earl
Well it wasn't two weeks
after she got married that
Wanda started gettin' abused
She put on dark glasses and long sleeved blouses
And make-up to cover a bruise
Well she finally got the nerve to file for divorce
She let the law take it from there
But Earl walked right through that restraining order
And put her in intensive care
Right away Mary Anne flew in from Atalnta
On a red eye midnight flight
She held Wanda's hand as theyworked out a plan
And it didn't take long to decided
That Earl had to die
Goodbye Earl
Those black-eyed peas
They tasted all right to me Earl
You're feeling weak
Why don't you lay down
and sleep Earl
Ain't it dark
Wrapped up in that tarp Earl
The cops came to bring Earl in
They searched the house
high and low
Then they tipped their hats
and said 'Thank You ladies
if you hear from him let us know
'Well the weeks went by and
Spring turned to Summer
And Summer faded into Fall
And it turns out he was a missing person
who nobody missed al all
So the girls bought some land
and a roadside stand
Out on Highway 109
They sell Tennessee ham
and strawberry jam
And they don't
lose any sleep at night 'cause
Earl had to die
Goodbye Earl
We need a break
Let's go out to the lake Earl
We'll pack a lunch
And stuff you in the trunk Earl
Well is that all right
Good Let's go for a ride
Earl
hey
Mary Anne and Wanda were the best of friends
All through their high school days
Both members of the 4H Club
Both active in the FFA
After graduation Mary Anne went out lookin'for a bright new world
Wanda looked all around this town
and all she found was Earl
Well it wasn't two weeks
after she got married that
Wanda started gettin' abused
She put on dark glasses and long sleeved blouses
And make-up to cover a bruise
Well she finally got the nerve to file for divorce
She let the law take it from there
But Earl walked right through that restraining order
And put her in intensive care
Right away Mary Anne flew in from Atalnta
On a red eye midnight flight
She held Wanda's hand as theyworked out a plan
And it didn't take long to decided
That Earl had to die
Goodbye Earl
Those black-eyed peas
They tasted all right to me Earl
You're feeling weak
Why don't you lay down
and sleep Earl
Ain't it dark
Wrapped up in that tarp Earl
The cops came to bring Earl in
They searched the house
high and low
Then they tipped their hats
and said 'Thank You ladies
if you hear from him let us know
'Well the weeks went by and
Spring turned to Summer
And Summer faded into Fall
And it turns out he was a missing person
who nobody missed al all
So the girls bought some land
and a roadside stand
Out on Highway 109
They sell Tennessee ham
and strawberry jam
And they don't
lose any sleep at night 'cause
Earl had to die
Goodbye Earl
We need a break
Let's go out to the lake Earl
We'll pack a lunch
And stuff you in the trunk Earl
Well is that all right
Good Let's go for a ride
Earl
hey
Thursday, February 15, 2007
The U.S. Among the Worst Countries For Children To Live In
This is an interesting report from the San Francisco Gate concerning a study done comparing the well-being and welfare of children in the world's wealthiest nations. The United States ranked well in the bottom rungs.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Thinking along similar lines, when Carolyn Ho was here she spoke about encouraging her son to join the Boyscouts and do all of those activities and was speaking in terms of how all of that might have encouraged her son to become endoctrinated with militarism and further encouraged him to join the military. That made me think of my own experience with the Boyscouts. My father had me join when I was in junior high school, and he became the troop leader. I didn't mind and somewhat liked going to the meetings and talking with all of the other boys, however I do remember when they decided they were going to go on a camping trip. Me, sleeping on the ground? hmm. My father went on that trip and I stayed at home with my mama. I also remember that they let me design the troop flag and I remember it coming out a very nice shade of magenta. I got two pens for that and something else. I enjoyed it for as long as it lasted and for what it was worth.
I first heard of Corrie Ten Boom when I was about thirteen years old. I remember I went into the library to find something to read and came across this book called, The Hiding Place about a dutch family of clockmakers that hid Jews inside the walls of their house during World War II. Of course, I had to read it, me being a huge philosemite and a lover of all things Jewish and a lover of everything nonmilitary that related to WWII(especially stories of the Resistance--I was huge on Hannah Senesh). Alas, I devoured The Hiding Place and proceeded to read every book that Corrie Ten Boom ever wrote including Tramp for the Lord and In My Father's House. I gained and developed such a love and respect for Corrie Ten Boom and learned soo much from her. I still value her and the entire Ten Boom family, I have learned a lot from reading about them.I would love to go to Haarlem and visit the Ten Boom house. Alas, for a while I was on a Corrie Ten Boom high. I became president of the Fellowship of Christian Students for an entire year of high school during which time my sole effort was to talk about Corrie Ten Boom. What an interesting child I was. Haha. However, yesterday I ran across some of her writings on the internet and I was quite fondly reminiscent of my first discovery of this amazing woman and her wonderful family.
Poem For the People Who Fled Hurricane Katrina
A Refugee in my own country
A Fish Out of Water
Propelled from explosive material
internal combustion encompassing all things
How long does it take to clean up the streets in Arabi?
A Fish Out of Water
Propelled from explosive material
internal combustion encompassing all things
How long does it take to clean up the streets in Arabi?
One thing I thought about recently was the diversity among Afro-Americans. We all did not originate in the same place, even here in the U.S. and are not homogenous in our experiences(however similar and kindred they may be). Blacks in the Northeast under wasps domination who experienced freedom earlier had different experiences than those in the southeast who lived under white rule--Anglo for the most part, but also German, Irish, French, etc who practiced their brand of slavery. Slavery for those Blacks that lived in territories under French and Spanish rule was different than that of all of the rest as well, even though after the Louisiana Territory became apart of the United States those experiences perhaps became more homogenized. However, slavery in Latin areas was much different than those in Anglo/Protestant areas...that is something to think about. I could elaborate more--there have been books written about this matter of course, but I will stop my musing here for the time being.
The Color Purple
Celie, Shug, and Ms. Sophia all encompass parts of me. They are among my spiritual mothers.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Miss Celie's Wonderful Quote
"Til You do right be me, everything you even think about's gonna fail."
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