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LIVE BLOGGING DARFUR RALLY
It's a gorgeous day and the Mall is packed. Finally, an issue everyone can get behind. The crowd is diverse and international.
Here is the first person we ran into:
That's Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor and spokesperson against torture.
"As a Jew, I'm here because when we needed people to help us, nobody came," Wiesel, the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner, told the applauding crowd. "Therefore, we're here."
Music is playing, the kids are off taking photos and getting local color--we will check in here as we can.
I had severe technical difficulties with the laptop at the rally, but have these photos to share, at least!
Jamie took this and the next one!
This is Paul Rusesabagina, who was the inspiration for the character in Hotel Rwanda, played by Don Cheadle. Paul spoke about the fact that what is happening in the Sudan is similar to what happened in Rwanda.
"Twelve years ago, a militia was slaughtering innocent civilians in cities and towns in Rwanda,"
"As Rwanda has been abandoned, Darfur is also abandoned," he said. "The world is still standing by when a genocide was taking place."
Manute Bol has been raising money and awareness about the Darfur crisis for several years.
Karen
That is so cool!
Heading out to ours, singing this song..
Floating down the stream of time, of life to life with me
Makes no difference where you are or where you'd like to be
It's all too much for me to take
The love that's shining all around here
All the world's a birthday cake,
So take a piece but not too much
Sail me on a silver sun, for I know that I'm free
Show me that I'm everywhere, and get me home for tea
It's all to much for me to see
A love that's shining all around here
The more I am, the less I know
And what I do is all too much
The Beatles
Posted by: sparrow at April 30, 2006 09:08 AM
Here's a page with unclass info on the US defense budget. In 2004, $437 billion, over half of the US discretionary federal budget. This figure does NOT count Iraq/Afghanistan or anything else you hear about being paid for through "supplemental" requests, nor does it include CIA budget or other "classified" expenditures.
This figure represents 3.7% of the US GDP.
In comparison, the operating expenses of Wal-Mart for 2004 (it was the top Fortune 500 company that year) were $51 billion.
Exxon Mobil was the top Fortune 500 company for 2005; its 2005 operating expenses were $97 billion.
The top 5 Fortune 500 companies in 2005 had total combined operating expenses of $217 billion. This was on $1.2 TRILLION of revenues and $53 BILLION in profits.
Of course, our military has neither revenues nor profits.
Disclaimer: it's a bit hard to compare apples-to-apples, because of the way corporate balance sheets look.
Oops forgot the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States
Veritas
I've been enjoying this site, not necessarily up-to-date but looking more at ratios & relationships than absolute numbers.
Had all the GNPs, world military expenditures etc.
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/armies.html
Gimme back, gimme back my bullets
there's more than one way to skyn a fatcat,
Otter
Posted by: Veritas at April 30, 2006 12:42 AM
Veritas, thanks. I learn so much here.
I will quit beating myself up for buying consumer goods made with petroleum based products, but try to be more selective in my purchasing habits.
Posted by: sparrow at April 30, 2006 09:08 AM
War is big business that supports economies, or so I have been told. Invest your son or daughter.
**
This next part isn't about me, but rather posted as a large thank you and with gratitude for all the knowledge each of you share here every day. I have learned so much, and continue to do so. It's like a huge canvas painting that keeps getting more colorful and focused as time goes by.
~ I had a long talk with a Fundie friend over the weekend, and she believed me. She was taken aback by my knowledge as I painted a picture for her as to what is really going on. She was stunned, and dumbfounded. A couple of her key responses? "You have SO MUCH knowledge about this stuff!" (it's a matter of degrees, I learn every day), and "So you don't think George Bush is......is......what he appears to be?" I got to tell her about Turdblossom! I have been carefully cultivating a relationship with this person over the past year, and she respects my opinion. I respect her, too. She just didn't have any idea. I waited until a conversation was started by her about politics, then I quietly and gently told her the truth. I am learning this process every day as well. A small triumph, perhaps, but very meaningful to me. Grassroots one person at a time.
People around here are talking about the possibility of war coming to our homeland. They are upset and concerned ~ some are falling into complacency and apathy out of a sense of not having the power to do anything about it.
When do we know when our society has peaked and is ready to do something? When will they all go numb from a feeling of a lack of power? This is a big question, I feel.
Anyone?
Sorry, Karen, I didn't mean to highjack this thread. I could have asked that question at a different time.
I hope the kids enjoyed their day with you guys today. Thanks for all you do. Ever and always the activists.
Anyone?
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at April 30, 2006 03:17 PM
When hell freezes over, or fills up... whichever comes first.
Photo finish.
How is the rally going, Karen?
Thanks for the info V; I'm still digesting it.
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at April 30, 2006 03:17 PM
"Unreasoned patience" came to my mind when I read your last two paragraphs. Ray McGovern speaks of this (as I wrote about in "Speaking the Unspeakable" here a couple of weeks ago -- http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2006/04/speaking_the_un.html ). Also, in today's NYTimes magazine section, there's a really interesting article about Freud's view of politics called "Freud and the Fundamentalist Urge." You can read the article here == http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2006/04/speaking_the_un.html , but these paragraphs seem to me to address a little of what you're talking about...
--snip--
In his last days, Freud became increasingly concerned about our longing for inner peace — our longing, in particular, to replace our old, inconsistent and often inscrutable over-I with something clearer, simpler and ultimately more permissive. We want a strong man with a simple doctrine that accounts for our sufferings, identifies our enemies, focuses our energies and gives us, more enduringly than wine or even love, a sense of being whole. This man, as Freud says in his great book on politics, "Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego," must appear completely masterful. He must seem to have perfect confidence, to need no one and to be entirely sufficient unto himself. Sometimes this man will evoke a god as his source of authority, sometimes not. But in whatever form he comes — whether he is called Hitler, Stalin, Mao — he will promise to deliver people from their confusion and to dispense unity and purpose where before there were only fracture and incessant anxiety. But, of course, the price is likely to be high, because the simplifications the great man offers will almost inevitably involve hatred and violence.
--snip--
For Philip Rieff, author of the equally perceptive and original "Freud: The Mind of the Moralist," Freud appears to be a deep political pessimist who thinks that the healthiest individuals will probably be those who turn completely away from politics. But another way to look at Freud is to see him as someone who suggests that a considerable measure of freedom and even relative happiness can come from following a self-aware middle way. If we are willing to live with some inner tension, political as well as personal, we need never be overwhelmed by tyranny or fall into the anarchy that giving into the unconscious completely can bring.
For Freud, we might infer, a healthy body politic is one that allows for a good deal of continuing tension. A healthy polis is one that it doesn't always feel good to be a part of. There's too much argument, controversy, difference. But in that difference, annoying and difficult as it may be, lies the community's well-being. When a relatively free nation is threatened by terrorists with totalitarian goals, as ours is now, there is, of course, an urge to come together and to fight back by any means necessary. But the danger is that in fighting back we will become just as fierce, monolithic and, in the worst sense, as unified as our foes. We will seek our own great man; we will be blind to his foibles; we will stop questioning, stop arguing. When that happens, a war of fundamentalisms has begun, and of that war there can be no victor.
Just heard an interview with James Bovard, the author of "Attention Deficit Democracy" talking about how we Americans suffer from "battered citizen syndrome."
Much of what he was saying -- and what looks like his book discusses -- addresses what Truth Shall Prevail was talking about in her 3:17 pm post.
Here are a couple of paragraphs from an essay he recently wrote...
America is becoming an attention deficit democracy. The government is still nominally democratic – elections are boisterous events accompanied by torrents of dubious ads and mass rallies. But after the election, the president returns to his pedestal, congressmen return to their free lunches, and most people ignore political life.
Because so many people are so ignorant, it becomes easier each decade for politicians to seize new power and decimate established rights. But the fact that most people are politically negligent does not entitle government to trample their rights.
--snip--
Attention deficit democracy lacks the most important check on the abuse of power: an informed citizenry resolutely defending their rights. But no amount of popular ignorance can legitimize political absolutism. The government must respect the Bill of Rights regardless of how few Americans understand the highest law of the land.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/bovard/bovard28.html
from Elizabeth:
This is hilarious.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002425363
Colbert Lampoons Bush at White House Correspondents Dinner-- President Not Amused?
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/
Unfortunately this article is not hilarious. President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution
Also talked to a couple of people in France.
One saw Bush with the lookalike comedian, on tv there.
The other saw a program in which their journalists had paid to go along with millitia border guards, so were "embedded." They were surprised to find that people come from all over the US to try to patrol the southern borders & some are even immigrants themselves. The program also showed detention camps.
It is amazing to me to hear what is going on in our country, filtered across an ocean & back again & through another language & set of eyes/ears.
Someone posted about Galbraith earlier.
My friend Bert had just read his book & he's one of his heroes.
My friend in France who is studying economics liked him too.
& now just came across this article, which called him one of our greatest intellectuals & said he would have been Presidential material had he not been born in Canada.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=80925
Posted by: madame defarge at April 30, 2006 05:04 PM
Madame,
Thank you for posting that link. Honesly, I feel Americans are suffering from battered women syndrome. The more people are battered the easier it is to keep them quiet and weak.
Honesly, I feel Americans are suffering from battered women syndrome. The more people are battered the easier it is to keep them quiet and weak.
Posted by: sparrow at April 30, 2006 05:24 PM
Amen. Especially true in the Cuban and Korean communities; the harsher Republican policies get, the more support these communities offer to them.
Posted by: AllyMcLesbian at April 30, 2006 05:49 PM
hmmmm...interesting! I wonder why that is.
litening to new neil young album-streaming on neilyoung.com
great stuff!!
Also COlbert at coresspondents dinner really picked my spirits up- that man has one large set of balls-wish he'd loan them to Democractic Senators!!
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2819
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/04/29.html
Posted by: madame defarge at April 30, 2006 03:30 PM
Woah, Madame Defarge, that just gave me the creeps and the chills at the same time.
I love the last part of the paragraphs you posted here, especially these words:
"For Freud, we might infer, a healthy body politic is one that allows for a good deal of continuing tension. A healthy polis is one that it doesn't always feel good to be a part of. There's too much argument, controversy, difference. But in that difference, annoying and difficult as it may be, lies the community's well-being."
I think that is the essence of life, really, to never grow complacent and "settle" for the status quo. How shallow a life is that? Maybe I'm too complex to just be totally mind numb and happy in acceptance of shabby status quos. I have a girlfriend who is smart as a fox in some ways, and as numb and deft in others and she finds happiness in the simplest of things and never really questions much of anything. I have at times envied her ability to do that. I find happiness in the simplest of things, too, there is alot of beauty in this world, but I don't settle for people being horrible to one another.
I think true growth, intellectual, spiritual, emotional ~ can only come when we are constantly striving in the realm of reality.
I didn't ever study Freud, but I think he might have been a pessimist in more areas than politics. I had a very close girlfriend who's husband studied Freud and took his viewpoints to his bosom (her husband is now deceased) and was a very negative person. Brilliant, but negative. He saw the human condition as basically hopeless, and spent his nights drinking his pain of his awareness of life away. So in seeking truth I have had to ask myself, is there any hope? I think there is, because I have seen such deep beauty, integrity, and sense of purpose in the people here at the DCP, as well as in some very fine people I have been blessed to have in my life ~ my father being the first example of being as near a perfect mortal yet moral being as they come. I have been very lucky and blessed in that respect. And I am so thankful for each true soul I have ever met.
So, what do we have? Hopelessness, or hope? Kinda tough question these days, isn't it? I have decided that no matter what happens, they aren't going to own me without a fight. I say, we lose NOTHING if we put up a fight to the end of this thing. I don't know how it's going to turn out, but I plan on being true to myself and to my values and true to the people I love, to my children and their children if that day ever comes ~ and if we win, all the better. If not, I am goin' out in a blaze of glory.
I don't know how it's going to turn out, but I plan on being true to myself and to my values and true to the people I love, to my children and their children if that day ever comes ~ and if we win, all the better. If not, I am goin' out in a blaze of glory.
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at April 30, 2006 06:16 PM
Very well said, Truth. I'm right there with you.
Back on topic, here's a diary from Daily Kos about the Rally for Darfur to placate us until we hear from Karen...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/30/18936/4658
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at April 30, 2006 06:16 PM
I'm right with you too.
Posted by: mkh at April 30, 2006 06:03 PM
Isn't that Neil Young album awesome?
Interesting discussion
I think Freud's work on repression & defense mechanisms may be relevant to what we see today. There is such an emphasis on religion and morality, and respression of drives & desires. Then we have case after case of conservatives politicians who carouse, are closet cases, gamble, drink & squander money. It's called the return of the repressed.
I prefer Jung, who had more of a universal approach. Jung was a student of Freud but found his theory of the unconscious to be negative. Jung added to repression in the unconscious the potential for unconscious universal archetypes - a collective unconscious, more positive & potentially creative for society.
One of Jung's ideas may related to the analysis above (of politicians) and that is the "shadow self." The shadow represents what the conscious person does not wish to acknowledge. So the "compassionate conservative" might have a shadow self that is very greedy. Jung emphasized being aware of this or we project it onto others. The last campaign was all about projecting negative attributes of the conservative party onto the liberal party.
The other night I dreamed about Dick Cheney. Luckily, I've forgotten most of the dream, but I wish I'd had someone at the time who knew how to analyze it. Once I did dream that I entered a house where Bush & Condi and others were "squatters" & she was going through the refridgerator looking for food!
Wiesel: For the sake of our humanity, save Darfur
"For the sake of our humanity, save Darfur," Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, said at a Washington rally Sunday. Wiesel was among the thousands who turned out in Washington to urge the Bush adminstration to help end the genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.
While the crowd chanted, "Not on our watch," speakers, including George Clooney, took turns on the National Mall.
Wiesel said while families are being uprooted and starved, children are being tormented and slaughtered. Wiesel said the world is "indifferent to their plight."
"Silence helps the killer, never his victims," Wiesel said. Ron Fisher traveled to the rally from Cleveland with his 15-year-old daughter.
"It is the socially responsible, good-conscience thing to do," Fisher said.
http://www.49abcnews.com
Another article with more detail.
Will be interesting to hear from Karen - Barack O'Bama was there, George Clooney etc.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-04-30T213745Z_01_N30228011_RTRUKOC_0_US-SUDAN-DARFUR-USA.xml
or alternatively
http://tinyurl.com/ehg3o
The last campaign was all about projecting negative attributes of the conservative party onto the liberal party.
Posted by: DiAnne at April 30, 2006 06:37 PM
Hah! That's a good one!!! How astute of you, DiAnne!!!
So, what you are saying, then, might be that the conservatives projected who they might really be or would like to be onto the liberals! Those naughty little pervs. No wonder we have such a twisted bunch of hypocrits at the helm! That must be repression from control. The very thing they crave screws them up. That makes sense. Known more than a few of those kind too.
Please sign this postcard & send it to others for their signature...
http://www.savedarfur.org/
Dianne,
Excellent psychological analysis. I think that Jung would have a hayday with this regime but also with the study of the masses.
Regarding your dream, well, I'm sorry you had such a bad nightmare, though one would wonder at the analogy of Condi digging into the refrigerator...
I'd hate to tell you about the dream I once had about GWB...So I won't! I don't want to give them ideas.
Dafur peace talks falter
http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=128816®ion=5
Well they say, time loves a hero
but only time will tell
If he's real, he's a legend from heaven
If he ain't he was sent here from hell
- Lowell George
Truth Shall Prevail, Sparrow
I think also of the author of the book about Rove & how he operates. (Bush's Brain) He said that Rove believes in attacking his opponent's strengths & that the Democrats will attack the opponent's weaknesses.
I think it proved to be true. Rove knew that Bush was a draft dodger & Cheney was a draft dodger/chickenhawk type & Kerry was a war hero who was also a hero later because he realized the Vietnam war was wrong & confronted the government about it. So that's probably why the Swift Boat Vets were lined up (& I really do believe Rove was behind it), to attack Kerry's record & it was an issue at the Republican convention (purple bandaids).
Kerry had a long record in the Senate so they attacked that. All the little picky things they got from the Democrats - "flip flop" on issues came from the Dean campaign, etc. That's why I used to caution people to be careful what they said, as Rove's agents would be watching (& may be reading this as well).
So these guys are NOT war heroes or even vets, so they pick apart those who are, like Kerry or Murtha! & send others off to die! & then are NOT compassionate if they cut all safety net programs in favor of defense (which should be called dept. of attack) & polluters.
Hope the peace talks still are successful before the 48 hour extension is reached.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4961308.stm
Darfur Rallies in Pictures - slide show
from Mother Jones blog: (& see link at bottom)
On Friday, representatives of the Save Darfur Coalition met with President Bush hours after five U.S. Representatives and six religious, international development and student leaders were arrested for protesting outside the Sudanese Embassy against the Darfur genocide. The rally highlighted four demands that the Save Darfur Coalition has made of the Sudanese government:
1. Withdraw any objection to a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur. The purpose of such a force would be to protect your own citizens from harm, and there is already ample precedent, given the current UN peacekeeping force in south Sudan.
2. Allow humanitarian relief organizations full and unfettered access to the villages and refugee camps for internally displaced people in Darfur. A good first step would be reinstating the Norwegian Refugee Council, which the Sudanese government ejected from Sudan in early April.
3. Abide by the terms of the N'Djamena ceasefire calling for an end to hostilities in Darfur, and to UN Security Council resolutions by disarming the genocidal Janjaweed militias.
4. Fully commit to reaching a lasting agreement at the current, seventh round of the Abuja peace talks on Sudan’s Darfur region.
There are a lot of good ideas worth pursuing, and the U.S. government needs to hear our voices so it takes action to stop the killing. Today's rallies were a good place for us to start, as well as joining with countless others to learn more ways to get involved at http://www.savedarfur.org.
Colin Powell talked about Darfur "genocide" in Sept. of 2004.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8364-2004Sep9.html
Bush then made a statement September of 2004.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040909-10.html
Rice visited Darfur in July of 2005 & heard stories from women.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/21/AR2005072101385.html
Senate passed Peace & Accountability Act, September 2005
http://coalitionfordarfur.blogspot.com/2005/11/darfur-senate-passes-darfur-peace-and.html
African Union urges Darfur peace deal after two years of negotiations & 180,000 dead
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=15381
It's now or never as Darfur enters twilight zone
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=644722006
best, most comprehensive article I found
The rally was huge and inspiring--also frustrating. (They were not exactly prepared for the numbers there--and the organization backstage was frightening!) But I did get to see everyone except for Clooney--they kept telling us he was coming, but we had to leave before he actually showed up!
Obama was a rock star--girls screaming. Rev. Al was right on target. There were many Jewish teen groups there today--lots of Holocaust references on their t-shirts and signs.
The organizers did do some things right and one of them was to continually ask people to DO things, such as:
1. Take part in the Million Voices for Darfur campaign: http://www.MillionVoicesforDarfur.org
2. Talk with elected officials: http://www.savedarfur.org/action/lobby
3. Request President Bush to provide help from Congress, NATO, the international community to help the peacekeeping mission, push the UN Security Council to authorize a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, and appoint a Special Envoy.
4. Urge Congress to provide at least $173 million under the emergency supplemental bill (HR 4939), pass the proposed Biden/deWine amendment to allocate $250,000 for the Special Envoy also logistical assistance from NATO to the UN peackeepers, pass the strongest version of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (HR 3127, S 1462), and provide sufficient food.
5. Ask the UN to pass a resoultion authorizing the creation of a UN peacekeeping mission, and encourage the US to enforce sanctions against Sudan.
THese will be part of our Five Minutes this week.
Hmm. Freud was an egocentric control-freak cocaine addict who was obsessed with his mama.
Hmm, hmm. At that rate, maybe he could get elected president too.
but oh the jung and the restless,
Otter
Thanks Karen
Posted by: karen at April 30, 2006 10:33 PM
It's all about logistics Karen :)
After all, logistics decided the last election.
Chuck in Houston for Veritas:
I agree. It is all about logistics now. Most people are clear on what they want to happen in 2006, on one side or the other, so it comes down to which side is better organized to marshall resources and apply them efficiently where they beneifit the cause the most. And that has a lot to do with logistics. And those that are not clear on what they want to happen will gravitate to the side with momentum (or that is my take on human nature anyway).
Keep the Faith and GOTV 2006!
Chuck in Houston
Veritas:
You know what else? I hate losing. And winning requires logistics, if nothing else. I guess you could say it is a necessary, if not sufficient, condition. And it is not rocket science either. So to my mind, thinking about the dishes we want on the table in detail, while fun and inspiring, can never take precedence over thinking about what it takes to get some traction on having a say over the menu, and being able to deliver what we intend should we ever get that say. Hope that made sense.
Logistics, baby! Love it! It's what won every war we ever were in.
Chuck in Houston
Chuck, Veritas
Do you have trust in our voting system?
Here is more military recruiting lies - this time in Iraq:
World Updates
May 1, 2006
Iraqi troops protest after graduation parade
HABBANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Newly graduated Iraqi soldiers protested after a passing out parade on Sunday saying they were promised they would serve only in their hometowns.
The troops were among 1,000 graduates, mostly from the Sunni Arab minority, at the Habbaniya base near Falluja west of Baghdad.
The protesters told reporters they were unhappy about their first assignments after being promised they would serve only in their hometowns.
Some took off their shirts and threw them down in anger. Others yelled at their officers and threatened to quit. One officer yelled back, telling them to leave, witnesses said.
Many Sunni Arabs, the community dominant under Saddam Hussein, have supported the insurgency against the U.S. occupation and the Shi'ite-led government.
U.S. forces training Iraqis to take over from them are keen to bring Sunnis into the army to ensure a sectarian balance and help draw more Sunnis into the U.S.-backed political process.
The U.S. military said the graduates were part of plans to recruit Iraqis for an integrated army from across Anbar province, the heartland of the Sunni insurgency.
"The movement of an integrated army in al Anbar is the only future," said Colonel Larry Nicholson, a U.S. commander in Falluja.
"When people look out their window and see the Army, they need to be able to say, `It's my Army.' Today, we took a very positive step in that direction."
Thanks to Mpls Vets for Peace
http://tinyurl.com/jldyk
(Scarecrow)
I could while away the hours
Conferring with the flowers
Consulting with the rain
And my head I'd be scratching
While my thoughts were busy hatching
If I only had a brain
I'd unravel any riddle
For any individ'l
In trouble or in pain
(Dorothy)
With the thoughts you'd be thinkin'
You could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain
(Scarecrow)
Oh I, could tell you why
The ocean's near the shore
I could tell you things I'd never thought before
And then I'd stop....
And think some more
I would not be just a nothing
My head all full of stuffing
My heart all full of pain
I'd be gay, I'd be merry
Life would be a dingle-derry
If I only had a brain
Chuck in Houston
PS: Please, nobody take that as snarky! Just a tune that popped into my head and has more to do with me thinking on logistics than anything else(e.g., I am missing something and I can't put my finger on it), but all the same wanted to share it....
PPS: (Tinman) When a man's an empty kettle, he should be on his mettle, and yet I'm torn apart. Just because I'm presumin', that I could be kinda human, if I only had a heart.
DiAnne:
I have guarded trust in our voting system. How did the old saw used to go? Trust but verify?
Well, if we get some statehouse and local power, we might be in a position to verify. Barring that, it's down to just trust, which I am short of anymore (getting old I guess). But overall, yes, it ain't perfect, but even if it's not hitting on all cylinders it can probably get us where we need to go.
Chuck in Houston
DiAnne:
Further to my above, I think our electoral system needs a serious overhaul, but we can't even get there until we can get the boots on the ground to push the old wreck into the shop. On both accounts, it's, to my mind, a logistical issue. We just have to get there from here.
Chuck in Houston