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Street Theatre
"Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience...The logistics of doing street theatre necessitates simple costumes and props, and generally there is little or no amplification of sound, with actors depending on their natural vocal and physical ability...The performances need to be highy visible, loud and simple to follow in order to attract a crowd."
A thousand years ago, strolling and traveling "players" were cultural and political ambassadors, bringing news and innovative ways of understanding the world at large to remote corners of a realm. Through song, dance, and storytelling, actors informed the spread of modern ideas, practices, and news items.
In the 1960s and 70s, street theatre became a way of confronting the status quo and of protesting the war in Vietnam. By presenting sometimes violent and shocking images right in front of folks walking down the street, people were often startled into paying attention to an issue they would rather not think about.
For the past five years, individuals and groups in Washington have engaged in street theatre, dressing up in black robes as Supremes, to call out the Supreme Court justices' meddling in the elections, dressing up in orange jumpsuits with hoods and nooses and silently kneeling in Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, and, last Tuesday, demonstrating in front of the Dirksen Building at the hearings for Michael Haynes, torture-supporting judge.
That's Pat Elder, playing the "Man" in the suit. Pat is a longtime Washington peace activist. I did not get the name of the man in the nude suit. But I can tell you that as Pat yanked on the chain and yelled at the man on the ground, people were roused from their stupor, even if briefly.
The sudden appearance of artifice that reveals truth may be the highest form of art. Certainly the tradition of spreading news through entertainment is an old and mainstreamed effort; witness Fox and CNN. But adding the confrontational nature of what protesters have been doing means a less soporific form of entertainment; one that crosses over into art.
Consider the value of public storytelling in simple, straightforward and graphic terms. How much clearer can we be? Torture is wrong and we are condoning it.
"You're either part of the solution, or you're part of the problem." Eldridge Cleaver
Karen,
Thanks for the topic, and the great photo. I'm sure that did cause some folks to take notice. In these days of our televisions blasting us all the time with violence, sex, people yelling at each other, and more, it is, I guess, not surprising that the general population has become immune to what is real and what is important.
Street theater may seem 'in your face' to some, but it may in fact be the only way to get people to snap out of their insulated worlds and take notice. They expect these images on their TVs. They don't expect it in their path. The element of surprise wakes them up and shakes them up.
Great post!
more street theater
http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2006/06/solstice_at_the.html#comments
When Bert & I protested Bush in the Twin Cities, one person wore a Cheney mask & handed out play money, and a hooded guy with an electrical cord stood on a box while another guy "shocked" him. Bush had to pass in his limo, but he has darkened windows. My sign said "Not My President."
Here is what inspired me to fast - a local guy, local base, local independent station - he was a patriot, that's why he joined. He was an officer with a term in Korea, a term in Iraq with the Stryker Brigade. He was to be deployed to Iraq again but read and read, including during down-time during training. The clincher was "Pretext to War." He doesn't just want a personal "out" - he believes the war is illegal, that was isn't the answer.
& there can't be a "war on terrorism" - it's a metaphor. You can't send people to die and to kill based on a metaphor, but they are.
Fort Lewis soldier charged
FORT LEWIS - A lieutenant who refused to deploy to Iraq faces three charges, including conduct unbecoming an officer, that could put him behind bars if convicted. In addition, the Army filed charges of missing movement and contempt toward officials against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, 28, on Wednesday.
Watada faces up to seven years in prison, forfeiture of all pay and a dishonorable discharge if convicted of all three charges.
Watada's attorney, Eric Seitz, said he was not surprised by the missing movement charge. But he was "amazed at the utter gall" of the charge of contempt toward officials, which raises some questions involving the First Amendment, he said.
"It's crazy on their part. His statements were not disrespectful," Seitz said in a telephone interview from Honolulu. "An officer in his position is obligated to raise those questions." Watada refused to go to Iraq on June 22 as a member of the Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team because he believes the war there is illegal. His stance has spurred support rallies - and counter-rallies - outside Fort Lewis and in Honolulu, where he grew up.
(snip)
In a report detailing the charges, the Army stated Watada used "orally and publicly the following contemptuous words against the President of the United States, to wit: 'I was shocked and at the same time ashamed that Bush had planned to invade Iraq before the 9/11 attacks. How could I wear this horrible uniform now knowing we invaded a country for a lie?' or words to that effect." Watada faces a pretrial hearing on the charges to determine whether he will be court-martialed.
(snip)
Watada earlier was barred from leaving Fort Lewis. He has since regained full privileges and is free to come and go, officials said Wednesday. It was not necessary to confine him after charges were filed because they do not think he is a flight risk, they added.He is no longer with the Stryker Brigade and has been reassigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, I Corps.
Watada did not apply for status as a conscientious objector because he isn't opposed to war in principle, just the war in Iraq. Army regulations define conscientious objection as a "firm, fixed and sincere objection to participation in war in any form or the bearing of arms, because of religious training and belief."
Supporters played a video at a news conference last month in which he said the "war in Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law." He was not available for comment Wednesday, Seitz said.The Army said in a written statement Wednesday: "Officers are held to a high moral and legal standard. Acts contrary to this standard may be tried by court-martial."
More than 50,000 soldiers, including active duty, reserve and the National Guard, have been deployed or mobilized through Fort Lewis for the war on terrorism, said Erin Benson, a Fort Lewis spokeswoman. That includes deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
(The Olympian, Olympia WA June 26)
Anthrax scare to NY Times makes stocks go down (further)
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/788434
Another one - today is her 22nd birthday
Spec. Suzanne Swift has refused to return to Iraq and is now being held at Ft. Lewis. July 15th will be her 22nd Birthday.
Suzanne Swift was arrested at her mother's home in Eugene on June 11 for being AWOL from the U.S. Army. Though she'd already served tours of duty in Kuwait and Iraq, Specialist Swift could not return to Iraq for a second tour of duty because she was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to the sexual harassment and assault she faced at the hands of her commanding officers. Swift, who has gone public with her charges against the perpetrators, has been forced back into active duty and back into her fatigues. She is confined to the Ft. Lewis base while her case is under investigation, and she may face court martial and prison time.
Stand Up! Seattle will be bannering in support of Suzanne Swift and displaying other anti-war signage on the overpass. We will also be leafleting and speaking with military personnel and the public outside the Fort Lewis Gate in order to disseminate information regarding the situations of Spc. Swift, other war resisters and the how's and why's of war resistance. Press conference at 3pm with Suzanne's mother Sara Rich. http://suzanneswift.org
I am heading to the town square.
School vouchers? We don't need no stinking school vouncher programs:
Public Schools Perform Near Private Ones in Study
The Education Department reported on Friday that children in public schools generally performed as well or better in reading and mathematics than comparable children in private schools. The exception was in eighth-grade reading, where the private school counterparts fared better.
The report, which compared fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores in 2003 from nearly 7,000 public schools and more than 530 private schools, also found that conservative Christian schools lagged significantly behind public schools on eighth-grade math.
The study, carrying the imprimatur of the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Education Department, was contracted to the Educational Testing Service and delivered to the department last year.
It went through a lengthy peer review and includes an extended section of caveats about its limitations and calling such a comparison of public and private schools “of modest utility.”
Its release, on a summer Friday, was made with without a news conference or comment from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.
Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, the union for millions of teachers, said the findings showed that public schools were “doing an outstanding job” and that if the results had been favorable to private schools, “there would have been press conferences and glowing statements about private schools.”
There's more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/15/education/15report.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print
Oped piece by Robert Kuttner in today's Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/07/15/gop_courts_had_enough/
Excerpts:
IS PRESIDENT BUSH'S effort to claim extra-constitutional powers as a wartime commander-in-chief finally being reined in by congressional Republicans and courts? Or will the Republican Congress and increasingly docile judges figure out ways to legalize Bush's extralegal incursions after the fact?
. . . Arlen Specter, after weeks of negotiations with Gonzales, has emerged with a compromise that would superficially bring the White House into constitutional compliance, but would actually make Congress complicit in gutting both the law and the Fourth Amendment's protections against illegal searches and seizures.. . . .Specter's real role is fig leaf. . . McCain, like Specter, has a history of bold talk coupled with actions that help the administration when the chips are down . .
. . . If Bush's despotic designs are thwarted, it will not be courtesy of vanishingly rare profiles in courage by Republican legislators or by bravely independent courts, but because the voters finally grasp the stakes.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a suggestion from U.S. President George W. Bush that his country should emulate democracy in Iraq.
During a joint news conference Saturday in St. Petersburg, Bush said he raised concerns about democracy in Russia during a frank discussion with the Russian leader.
"I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world, like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same," Bush said.
To that, Putin replied, "We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy that they have in Iraq, quite honestly."
***
And this is on a day when the news from Iraq is so good... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/15/ap/world/mainD8ISF9T80.shtml
Guess Georgie doesn't like what he sees anymore when he looks into Putin's eyes to see his soul...
Art
http://www.betc-emperorsmarch.com/
Posted by: mbk at July 15, 2006 10:02 AM
As frightening as it is, I have really been under the impression lately that Bush is in full psychological denial about how absolute the failure of the neo-con agenda has been. I truly believe this man thinks there is a flourishing democracy in Iraq, and that all this will sort itself out and history will prove these criminals right.
He must have been just stunned when Putin slapped him with reality in front of all those grown-ups in the room.
I mean, Presidents just wanna have fun:
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/world/15032348.htm
Emperors just want to have fun
Sorry, Sebastien, I mis-spoke. ;-)
Posted by: Lou at July 15, 2006 12:03 PM
The President is always right, right?
from Putin/Bush press conference:
PUTIN: We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly. But it is true that we have discussed this issue at length, on the initiative of the president of the United States, and on my own initiative, as well. It is true that we assume that nobody knows better than us how we can strengthen our own nation. But we know for sure that we cannot strengthen our nation without developing democratic institutions, and this is the path that we will certainly take. But certainly, we will do this by ourselves.
http://www.juancole.com/
Clueless in St. Petersburg
http://www.dailykos.com main page 15 July 2006
From CNN, Bush urges the model of "Iraq democracy" on a what-must-be-assumed-to-be-astonished Vladimir Putin:
"I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world, like Iraq where there's a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same," Bush said.
This on a day when we get the following news from AP:
Gunmen kidnapped the head of Iraq's Olympic committee and more than a dozen employees Saturday after storming a sports conference in Baghdad, police said.... Ahmed al-Hijiya, president of the committee, was taken in the assault, which came a day after the coach of Iraq's national wrestling team was killed by kidnappers, said police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud.
... In other violence, Iraqi soldiers and gunmen clashed in Baghdad, leaving at least three people dead and 11 wounded, police said. Seven people were injured in a mortar attack near Haifa Street in downtown Baghdad, blocks from the Green Zone, which houses U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government. Similar clashes broke out blocks away, injuring four and killing two civilians. U.S. troops sealed off the area after the attacks, said Iraqi Army Maj. Salman Abdul-Wahid.
... Iraq's parliament voted Saturday to extend a nearly two-year state of emergency in Baghdad for another 30 days.
Hell, yes. That's a model we want to push worldwide, heaven knows.
You gotta wonder what the expression was on Putin's face when he replied: We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy that they have in Iraq, quite honestly.
Posted by: not my president at July 15, 2006 12:52 PM
Guess you didn't read this posting...
Posted by: madame defarge at July 15, 2006 11:47 AM
But certainly, we will do this by ourselves.
Posted by: not my president at July 15, 2006 12:23 PM
;-)... Zing-g-g-g-g! :-)
Wow1 Good for Putin! That carries all the sting of a scorpion, but it's nice to see someone FINALLY telling DumDum to butt out! No one needs to tell Putin how to rule Russia, and Bu$hCo certainly does not need to tell other countries how to rule themselves with token dictatorships set up by Bu$hCo as the real strings behind puppet leaders (like Iraq, for instance, where I have always believed if the people of that nation wanted to rid themselves of Saddam that it was up to them to do so, not Bu$hCo). If the situation were reversed, no one believes DumDum would sit still while the leaders of other countries told him how to rule this nation (where he's now set up a de facto dictatorship and everyone except half the people of this country already know it).
I look forward to the day when other world leaders follow Putin's lead and tell DumDum to butt the hell out, that they will rule their nations the way their own people want them to, not as Bu$hCo dictates...!
Hmmmm.... I wonder if Putin's full statement in the paragraph you quoted will make the evening snooze tonight, or Lamestream Media spinmeister shows tomorrow morning...? (I doubt it; Lamestream Media is still kow-towing to the dictates of the Bu$hCo administration. Still, I can dream, that Putin's retort to DumDum will be repeated today, tomorrow, and even Monday... can't I?)
Posted by: NonnyO at July 15, 2006 01:03 PM
You gotta wonder what the expression was on Putin's face when he replied: We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy that they have in Iraq, quite honestly.
Posted by: not my president at July 15, 2006 12:52 PM
They are playing it on CNN quick news. I just saw it this past half hour. Almost choked on my coffee.
That was a zinger, alright, and they gave it pretty good air time. After they reported what Putin said they showed at least a minute of Bush standing there listening to his earpiece, and looking uncomfortable.
Heh.
Notice the body language of Putin in the news shots now as compared to two years ago. He is no longer afraid of the U.S.
Duh.
Karen,
I love street theatre!
That picture speaks a million words. I love it that the man in the suit is just that, and not our military.
Thanks for sharing that.
Amazing times we live in when we can enthusiastically give kudos to a Russian leader for manhandling the US presidense..
Vodka up wid dat?
I am waiting near the town square for a demonstration r/t the situation in the middle east. I took hand-made flyers to Seattle Times, Seattle PI, KING, KIRO. Then I photographed a friend's marquee on a busy street which I'll try to upload a photo of.
Earlier I listened to Martin Luther King "I Have a Dream" on Bob Edward's special. It made me think we are strands in an on-going struggle. The guy who wrote the speech, Clarence Johnson, has a book coming out in the spring. It's strange to think that J Edgar Hoover & the US Attorney General were constantly preoccupied with the peace and justice movement. That is the type of thing that hasn't changed. Our freedoms are fragile and women & minorities really haven't been able to vote or fully able to be educated for such a long time. We are a pretty young democracy to be telling others how to live, particularly as we're such a free market capitalist state that it's hard for many to survive even in this formerly rich country. I can see plenty of evidence of it around me (drug addicts, homeless vets, beggars, trash, social unrest) - right here downtown amidst the coffee shops, multiplexes, Nike complex, skyscrapers.
Madame
It looks like I missed your post about Putin & then was redudant. I'm sorry - I'm glad Putin's pointing out the obvious (Iraq is a strange example of what democracy looks like & W is not the one to impose it). I haven't eaten in 24 hours so maybe a little spacey.
DiAnne,
Try the vitamin water! It really helps!
Posted by: DiAnne at July 15, 2006 03:09 PM
From the desk of Flakey, Spacey & Redundance...
Faster, faster!
;-)
Whoever edited Posted by: DiAnne at July 15, 2006 03:09 PM ruined my Posted by: monkey at July 15, 2006 03:15 PM obscure reference!
... and I hope you're happy.
(commence monkeydump of excess stress payload via Good Humor bar)
Hang in there everyone, attitude is everything.
Karen
Thanks! I'm actually doing pretty well.
I'm at The Dillettante Chocolate right now, which has free unlimited Wifi so that's kind of strange! I should be able
to check in here from Westlake Mall. I was able to upload
photos but now realize I wrote my TypePad address down
wrong so will put photos on Silenced Majority later from home.
Howard Zinn on C-Span 2 right now re: his book "Just War", and talking about how governments propagandize war.
Madame,
Sorry I was redundant about Putin also. My bad.
I have a habit of starting at the bottom of a thread, and excitedly answer posts sometimes before I get all the way to the top.
Oh well. Can't get too much of a good thing.
Dianne,
My suggestion. Avoid a aromas you love. If you have to cook for the family make stuff you hate. (My family ate the stuff anyway and in fact told me that they enjoyed what I cooked.) I admit,
Me...I'm on my seventh day and feel pretty good. I had a rough week for other non-fasting related reasons. I'm thinking about breaking my fast tonight so that I can eat in St. Paul and so that I can sit with my family at meal time again. Then on Monday after St. Paul I'm resuming it.
Yesterday and Thursday, because I felt so ill, I stayed at home and still fasted, but it didn't have as strong of sense of purpose in my mind as when I went out. So this morning, after taking a pain pill, I went out for a little bit and chatted with people while I did some errands. I was happy to see that there are over 4000 fasters now.
Sparrow
Thanks! I plan to go til I work again (Tuesday). I can do it.
I am only craving things like tomatoes & watermelon & did have some vitamin water. I had to walk through a Food Court to get to a restroom and actually, the smell of cooked food nauseated me. People were so focussed on their food & I was wondering how the homeless get their next meal. I think part of the experience is to be more acutely aware of things like that. I went through Nordstroms as a shortcut and there was a giant shoe sale. It was as though all these women could shut out all the problems of the world, if only they could find the right pair of elegant boots. I know how it is, but it doesn't work for me any more.
Truth Shall Prevail
I sometimes do the same - esp when there isn't a new thread - read up from the bottom & get all excited & jump the gun & post. It's a sign that this site is important for us.
DiAnne and sparrow,
I agree about how tough it is to eat again, or shop, or watch tv...it's a rising consciousness that comes from stopping the excess.
I am so aware of what a pig I can be...looking for food to fill the void. But when you start only eating to get a little energy or think a little more clearly, it is hard to think about how I used to eat just to feel full.
At any rate, I also think about the homeless and hungry kids, and victims of war, and the people in Beirut and Baghdad today, and I feel guilty for that excess.
And maybe we are just kidding ourselves, but it does seem that by being aware of that, and taking back our personal choice to work for something other than our own comfort or possessions creates a kind of empowerment and hope.
And yes, 4000 others doing the same or similar helps.
Just in case the Texas Republican party didn't steal enough Congressional seats by Redistricting, our Attorney General announced today his new legislative map for Austin Texas to supposedly comply with the Suprem Court's ruling last month, which would put another congressional district in Republican hands. Austin is one of the few bastions of progresive voters left here in Texas which voted strongly for Kerry and is consistantly Democratic. The new legislative map nevertheless, according to today's Houston Chronicle, will turn all three Austin Congressional seats into Republican seats regardless of the political makeup of its Austin residents, and illiminate Llyod Doggett's home base of voters and likely lead to certain defeat. Seems like even without Tom DeLay doing their bidding that Texas Republicans are always busy with political mischief, it never seems to end here. The federal panel reviewing this new map will be made up of 2 Republicans and 1 Democratic federal judge. Wonder how they might rule?
Posted by: Ira at July 15, 2006 07:41 PM
Ira,
I think I know how you feel. Living in one of the most conservative counties in the country, I have learned how those in power have manipulated the system so that those who make an honest attempt to change things have absolutely no chance. In DuPage County Illinois, I have watched and learned as my county government lies and cheats its way to electoral victory after victory. Fortunately, after the last Presidential election, I felt a tinge of hope as Kerry carried 44% of the county vote. Yet at the same time, Alan Keyes (in his race against Obama) received 33% of all of his votes from this county. The system here is so corrupt it would make Cook County politicians blush with envy.
Posted by: Ira at July 15, 2006 07:41 PM
It's amazing that nobody is able to stop the Texas Republican Party, even though it's engaging in all the corruption that you describe, and it's blatantly declared the US to be an exclusively Christian nation.
There is, of course, also the rigging of the public school textbooks to favor Christian Creationism and abstinence-only education (including some ridiculously false ways to get AIDS), and since Texas pretty much dictates national textbook policy for all red states, this is devastating to ALL of them.
The progressives in Texas need to throw up a major fuss and make a noise. But when the Texas Democratic Party has decided to just roll over dead, and remove any commitment to nondiscrimination from its platform, I don't see any hope. I would expect better from an organization that yielded LBJ and his civil rights legacy.
The real issue is that the brainwashing of the general populace, through declining education standards and more emphasis on propaganda media (i.e. Fox News), that goes on in the red states and on our military bases, must be stopped. Otherwise, the progressive movement is doomed.
Ally
Oh you are talking! I heard LBJ on the radio this morning and it sounded like music to my ears compared with what we have now! With his faults, LBJ had a vision for a better world. He at least believed in guns AND butter. He had remorse about his Vietnam decisions.
I just went to the opening of our neighborhood library and all the books were new! I checked out "China Inc" and Krugman's new one, but the first book I saw was called "Horsemen of the Esophagus," about competitive eating. That one had rows of gross-looking Hormel weiners on the cover.
My strangest encounters today:
- a Republican who didn't agree with me on anything but ended up giving me his employee discount on a device to play my iPod through my car speakers.
- a Thai Buddhist monk who agree if there was one world religion everyone agreed on, there would be no wars. We also decided that the one Higher Power could bless the food and then we would make sure everyone had enough.
I am planning to go to Mt. Zion Baptist Church tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM because the guest minister will be Reverend Al Sharpton.
When I break my fast, I am going to eat watermelon.
Ira,
People here have taken to attending the Election Commissions public meetings. By law, they are allowed to speak up and ask questions. It has led to the media getting more involved and asking tougher questions and also led to our state government demanding answers as well (Remember we have a Democratic Governor and Congress). I have gone to several meetings myself as a show of support for those who are courageous enough to make a statement. I also have sent letters to individual reporters thanking them for bringing this important story out of the shadows. We are starting to make an impact and the commission has been knocked back on its heals. We have a long way to go, but at least there has been some progress.
I know that you are very active in other activities, but are there any people you know in your community who are willing to take this task on? It was after we formed out cell here that two people were able to network and form the DuPage Chapter of the Ballot Integrity Project.
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/sunpub/naper/news/6_1_NA12_COUNTY_S10712.htm
ok, some practical advice for fasters from an ex-nun. Bet none of you knew that about me did ya?
Any thing over 3 days isn't a fast, it's a hunger strike, and really, I love you all but you should be checking with a doctor for saftey's sake. You mean to make a point, not put yourself in the hospital, Internet conncetivity is lousy there anyway.
As NonnyO and others have pointed out, water never breaks a fast, and you should try for the classic 8 glasses. That's actually considered an 8 oz glass, not the 16 or 20 we're use to using. For what it's worth, VERY hot water actully can subistute very nicely for coffee or tea if you can't get started in the morning. On any fast, after 3 days you need to add at least apple juice.
One way to do this is to fast for 48 hours, then on the evening of the third day eat a simple dinner on one bland protien, fish or chicken and one plain starch, rice or baked potato. Then you can go back to water and juice the following day.
I've seen people pull this off for 6 weeks and not appear to have any ill effects. But again check in with your doctor before too much longer PLEASE.
By the way, when you do end your fast, start back slow and bland, your stomach will thank you for it. I felt lousy every Easter Monday while I was in the convent, and I was young then!! We were a merry bunch who tended to fast well and feast well.
Right now life will only allow me one or two days a week to join you, but count me in on Tuesdays and Weds.
Oh you are talking! I heard LBJ on the radio this morning and it sounded like music to my ears compared with what we have now! With his faults, LBJ had a vision for a better world. He at least believed in guns AND butter. He had remorse about his Vietnam decisions.
Posted by: not my president at July 15, 2006 09:29 PM
DiAnne,
I've noticed that even the Marines are telling the soldiers to read up on LBJ's lies that got us into the Vietnam War. I don't remember the exact title of the book, but I thought it was a great thing. The problem is that the Marines are discouraging the soldiers from making that crucial link to W's own lies, the Iraq War, and their colleagues getting killed for no good reason.
But that was the only flaw in an otherwise pioneering presidency. I'm too young to remember LBJ (I was born toward the end of the Ford presidency), but I am definitely a beneficiary of LBJ's civil rights initiatives. And any Latino/Asian who moved to the US after 1965 is - even the reactionary church preachers in Koreatown.
Glad to hear about your encounters - you seem to meet so many interesting people all the time. And I definitely agree with the Buddhist monk. Have a wonderful time with Sharpton tomorrow.
believe me oncall there were masses of speakers at our preordained Redistricting hearings. My presentation were direct statements to our Republican state senators who I told had planned hearings that were a complete farse that Shakespeare would be proud of and designed as tv cover to mask their VTR Acts violations. I had known and confronted some of these state senators previously in face to face meetings in their office about tort reform so they were used to my getting in their face. Howard Dean has it right when he told the DNC that southern democratic parties are flat broke and in shambles. It will take money to rebuild our state party and patience. Texas politics is ugly; remember this is where Dick Armey, Tom DeLay and Bob Perry came from. It will also take a new generation of conservative Texas Democrats who hold onto civil rights progress in our state but can talk to business conservatives like Lloyd Bensten and cultural conservatives like Harold Ford to once again connect with our conservative state voters. Ballot Integrity is less an issue here than just finding the right tough and mean politicians like the the right has used here to take over our state government and judiciary.
oncall I don't think that I am off base here to keep urging Democratic state legislatures in states like Illinois, New York, California and Colorado to slowly ReDistrict in your states to take back the Democratic seats we lost here in Texas. Believe me Austin will not let Lloyd Doggett go down without a fight and maybe Texas voters will be sent a message when Tom DeLay is finally put in his place.
We may be down but we are not out here in Texas we just need other states like oncall and ally to give us a hand up and words of encouragement.
Speaking about the fact that fasting makes you accutely aware of the excess we live with in our lives, and the poverty in the lives of so many others.......
This just must NOT BE HAPPENING!!!! IT IS SO WRONG!!!
Many U.S. Iraq vets homeless
Some are poor, traumatized by war experiences
NEW YORK As a member of the U.S. army National Guard, Nadine Beckford patrolled New York City train stations after Sept. 11, 2001 with a 9 mm pistol, then served a treacherous year in Iraq.
Now, six months after returning, Beckford lives in a homeless shelter.
"I'm just an ordinary person who served. I'm not embarrassed about my homelessness because the circumstances that created it were not my fault," said Beckford, 30, who was a military-supply specialist at a base in Iraq that was a sitting duck for around-the-clock attacks.
Thousands of U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing a new nightmare  the risk of homelessness. The U.S. government estimates several hundred vets who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are homeless on any given night across the country, although the exact number is unknown.
The reasons that contribute to the new wave of homelessness are many: some are unable to cope with life after daily encounters with insurgent attacks and roadside bombs; some can't navigate government red tape; others simply don't have enough money to afford a house or apartment.
They are living on the edge in towns and cities big and small from Washington state to Florida. But the hardest hit are in New York, because housing costs "can be very tough," said Peter Dougherty, head of the Homeless Veterans Program at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Former army Pte. 1st Class Herold Noel had nowhere to call home after returning from Iraq last year. He slept in his Jeep, parked anywhere in New York "where I wouldn't get a ticket."
"Then the nightmares would start," said the 26-year-old, who drove a military fuel truck in Iraq  one of the war's most dangerous jobs.
At one point, he saw a friend's leg blown off.
"I saw a baby decapitated when it was run over by a truck. I relived that every night," said Noel, who walks with shrapnel in his knee and suffers from severe post-traumatic stress syndrome.
To help people like Noel, the VA gives grants to non-profit, private housing organizations that offer about 8,000 free beds across the country. The space isn't always enough to accommodate everyone in desperate need of shelter among the more than 500,000 vets of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been discharged from the military so far.
http://tinyurl.com/kmrmm
Posted by: ladytechie01 at July 15, 2006 09:48 PM
Lt,
I didn't know that you were a former nun. Thanks for the advice. The first few days, I was drinking water only. But on Wednesday, I added chicken or beef broth so I could take some pain medication. I also added a protein shake but I think that upset my stomick.
Tonight, I broke fast around 4-5pm tonight. I wasn't a hundred percent sure I was going to because I was feeling sort of guilty and such... Anyways, as I hemmed and hawed undecidedly, my daughter actually brought me a snack of cheese. I really didn't want to hurt her feelings by refusing to eat what she brought me something, because I thought it was sweet for her to do that and it's not the norm either.
Anywasy so I broke fast with some string cheese (she gave me) and with chicken soup with noodle-wontons. Very light carb there. I went on a walk and saw we had some fresh blackberrys so I ate about 6-7 fresh blackberrys. BUT...I did...give in to the one thing I would have killed for the other day...and had a small handfull of hershey's chocolate chips.
I hope my stomick doesn't rebell from that chocolate.
So was that a good or bad breaking? (This enquiring mind wants to know!)
Just to let you know though...your comment did make me feel better about breaking the fast/hunger strike though. I was feeling guilty. But I've also decided that I want to resume my fast again for at least a couple of more days. Tomorrow, I want to go to the churches with my sign. And so I haven't eaten since 4-5pm when I broke my fast. (I hope it will still count tomorrow when I go with my sign.)
I am taking this on a day to day basis because I know I want to remain true to my own heart on this mission. But I also know I want to be able to travel to St. Paul in good health, and I'd like to actually eat, drink, and be merry while I'm there.
LT...don't know if I've said it already, but you've been missed around here! Truth Shall Prevail, you've been missed as well.
Lots of people I can add to the list of missed posters...if your name begins with an A add yourself, B...add your name to the list, C...add your name... D (and so on and so on...)(ending with...Z!)
I am reposting some comments from last year. I think they include some things we should not forget as we near the campaign season:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We were taught to make SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-oriented). What kind of SMART goal can we rally around these days? Yes, getting our troops back home ASAP is nice but it is part of a larger quagmire. We need something else, something positive, that involves technology, that will push the US to the forefront of industry again, that will be beneficial for humanity...ideas???
Posted by: Veritas at July 26, 2005 09:26 PM
Excellent post Veritas. I think a reasonable and popular goal would be one of energy independence based on renewable, enviromentally friendly resources. Americans want to move away from depending on Middle East oil while doing as much as we can to preserve the environment. I think this is a singular issue which can appeal to all Americans. This message can be broadened to include the economic benefits which would emerge from the success of such a program: broader health care, education, infrastructure, etc. etc.
Posted by: oncall at July 26, 2005 09:39 PM
oncall posted yesterday, and I have suggested before, that Energy Independence, would be a great rallying cry for Progressives in the '06 elections. The faux energy bill is coming up for a vote this week and I will be contacting my Texas representatives, not that they care, and advising them that that bill is against our national interest and security interest.
America is currently 58% dependent on foreign oil today. In ten years it is projected that we will be at least 64% on foreign oil. Even if Anwr is opened for drilling and I still pray that our Hawaiian Senators will wake up, realize what a bad deal that is and how worthless the Hawaiian Native recognition bill is, that faith1 has so eloquently explained here, that even then we might be marginally less dependent on foreign oil, say 62% or so for maybe 2-3 years.
The bill is purported to cost $11.5 billion dollars. Some of that money needs to be spent to avoid the massive power outages experienced in New York, Ohio, and Detroit several years ago, that is a no brainer. And if Anwr and MTBE protections were truly left out of this bill(as reported by the AP), its legislation that we as Progressives need to get behind. But just not THIS bill.
Purpotedly ethanol subsidies are high on this bills' priorities. As I posted yesterday we don't want to get on the wrong side of the heartland voters, farmers and ranchers we need especially out west. But a Berkley study has concluded that it takes more energy to produce ethanol than we take out from ethanol. So what sense does that make and why are we spending so much money and energy on this form of energy? Its the worst kind of pandering.
And more importantly why has the Heritage Foundation, that's right, the Heritage Foundation (maybe someone can find this quote) come out and said this energy bill does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for America's Energy Independence. Energy Chairman Joe Barton has said that "Congress is posied to to pass what he calls the most comprehensive energy bill in 40 years." I can just see Barton, Bush, Cornyn and Hutchinson and probably Mary on the stage at signing singing of this wrongheaded bill with praises of this faux energy bill.
Rather than just oppose, oppose, oppose, I urge that we take up John Kerry's campaign message that America wants to, know Demands Real Energy Independence THIS DECADE. A takeoff oncall of John Kennedy's promise to reach the moon (that speech was actually here at Rice Stadium I was there as a kid at 10 years old in 1962 snapping pictures)within this de cade as Kennedy said (i.e. by 1969. That is a popular chaallenge that plays well with the heartland voters.
And it would also be shocking to be on the same side as the Heritage Society who is attacking this current legislation as Doing Nothing for Energy Independence (or for that matter National Security). 
We want a REAL ENERGY BILL. For National Security we want Real Energy Independence, not faux give aways to W's Pioneers. Its a matter of National Security. Stop screwing with our National Security Dick Cheney.
Posted by: Ira at July 27, 2005 09:08 AM
typo
America wants to, No, Demands Real Energy Independence THIS DECADE.
Posted by: Ira at July 27, 2005 09:10 AM
Actually I would like to hear Edward Kennedy deliver that line,
America Wants, No Demands, Energy Independence In This Dec Ade.( I believe that is how John Kennedy pronounced decade). Imagine the symbolism of another Kennedy delivering that line and that challenge.
Posted by: Ira at July 27, 2005 09:21 AM
Ira and others...we need a catchy way to sum up our goal of being energy independent in the next ten years. A slogan....
Posted by: Veritas at July 27, 2005 10:31 AM
Veritas,
My phrase: Let's Develop American Power.
Posted by: oncall at July 27, 2005 11:53 AM
developing American Power may include drilling in Anwr and twisted by those deisiring to destroy the Environment.
I think that energy independence needs to be linked to National Security and aversion to terrorism. something to the effect of Developing Energy Security in this Decade.
But I think that a call for a goal and a specific timetable like JFK linked to patriotism and civic responsibility which is nonexistant with this administration, would be a good idea. We need to reconnect with security moms.
Posted by: Ira at July 27, 2005 12:00 PM
My two cents:
American Power, Global Intelligence.
Pun intended:)
Posted by: KerryOn62 at July 27, 2005 12:19 PM
America Declares Energy Independence.
Discover America’s Energy. Find America’s Independence.
Discover America. Energy Independence
Renew America’s Independence. Renewable Energy
American Independence Renewable energy
Renewable Energy American Independence
Renew America Renewable Energy
Renewable Energy Renew America
Keep America Independent: Renewable Energy
I wouldn't feel guilty if I quit fasting right now because I have already learned so much. I didn't intend to fast at all but when I heard Lieutenant Watada on the radio, it did something to me. I think that when the military tried to get him to think LBJ broke the law to go to war, it made him curious about other wars. The book he read was "Pretext to War." He isn't a conscientious objector per se anyway. He believes this particular war is illegal. He has already been in Iraq and he is an officer. I think it affected me because he is local, he is typical, he is a minority, he is young, he did not have a liberal history, and he made his decision on intellectual and emotional grounds. He researched it even as he was preparing to go back to war. Then there is the woman three years younger than my son, from Eugene OR, who was raped in the military and who is captive in the military now.
My father had post-traumatic stress and kept a job but barely. I remember helping him create high school level biology tests because he'd never taught that class and lacked confidence. I was in high school at the time. He would be in tears from anxiety and I would act as the adult. He was never the same after the war. He had electroshock treatments and for a time didn't remember us.
I'm not a vet, nor is my husband nor is my son and that was a choice. I have done draft counselling since I was 15 years old. I ordered books from the Quakers and just started giving out as much information as I could to anyone who would take it. I walked into a Eugene McCarthy headquarters and asked to help. I remember that one of the books that I got from the American Friends Service Committee told how Navy SEALS were trained. Their spirits were broken by having drill seargents call them derogatory names for females. Mysogyny and homophobia were mixed in with basic training.
I used to sleep in a box that someone came home from Vietnam in. My Dad quit teaching because of his nerves and he bought a garbage route. The box was one thing that he brought home (for the lumber). At one end it said "head." I even knew the kid who came home in the box. He was a Senior in high school when I was a Sophomore. One guy came home with a Purple Heart. I saw him shooting birds off a wire, for fun. He and his friends tried to chase my boyfriend and I into a semi-truck. Real mentally healthy hero home from Vietnam.
That's why Vets things (like the article about Homeless Vets) hit a raw nerve. I passed all sorts of Homeless Vets today downtown. There is no excuse. Vets for Peace is having their national meeting in Seattle next month. I often speak of my friend & colleague Bert. He is a Vietnam Vet and was not stationed in Vietnam but did work in one of the killing factories off-shore (Naval aircraft carrier). My friend Alan who is a Quaker has worked for years with Homeless Vets. One of the reasons I was attracted to the Kerry campaign was because of the link with Vietnam Vets & his history of protesting the Vietnam War. I didn't agree with the IWR vote but I figured that by now, things are so all messed up how am I supposed to make sense of it - better to trust someone like him than some chickenhawk.
It's sometimes fashionable to call someone like Dean or my husband who didn't serve a "draft dodger" - that's bullshit. There are people who protested, people who looked out for their own self, people who lucked out with their lottery number. If some peole figured out Vietnam was a quagmire and wrong, more power to them. But only Chickenhawks like Cheney sent people to die after getting multiple deferments themselves.
sparrow.. you couldn't have chosen a better meal..
Good luck tomorrow. I know how we all think we feel about Christians, but the truth is they are as diverse as we are, and you will find at least some in full sympathy with you.
I do lurk at least 3 or 4 times a week, but time to post has been short. I'll try to make better use of the time I do have, promise.
There is far less chocolate in a small hand full of chips than the soild bunnys we were fond of on Easter I'm sure!! None of those pretend hollow bunnies for us !
Rev. Al Sharpton Joins Cindy Sheehan's Hunger Strike
Hannity & Colmes, FOX News, July 7, 2006
CINDY SHEEHAN, ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST: We're standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, America's coalition, and Iraqis who don't have enough clean water to drink, who don't have enough food to eat, who can get killed when they go to the marketplace to shop for their family, who can get raped by our soldiers just living, whose families can be killed. This war is a war crime, and our soldiers trying to survive are committing war crimes.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: That was Cindy Sheehan this week as she kicked off a summer- long hunger strike to protest the war in Iraq. Congressman Jack Murtha speaking in May about the Haditha incident.
And tonight, some conservatives are seeing similarities in those words and wondering if Cindy Sheehan is speaking for herself, or if her language also represents — may speak for the Democratic Party.
And joining us now, former democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton who is joining Cindy Sheehan in her hunger strike.
Why are you joining Cindy in the strike?
REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: The attention that needs to be raised — Danny Glover, the actor, others, Susan Sarandon, are joining for different parts. We are some two days, some three days, some longer — to hide the attention about this war needs to be brought to an end. I don't think Cindy is trying to speak for the mainstream of the Democratic...
COLMES: Conservatives would love to tie her to the Democratic Party.
SHARPTON: You can tie whatever you want. The fact is that overwhelmingly, Americans are saying they're opposed to this war, there needs to be some morale outrage. I think this fast is to raise the moral outrage and self-sacrifice of those of us that are saying, "Wait a minute. We need to deal with this war."
MELANIE MORGAN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well answer that let me say one thing, Alan, to Reverend Sharpton. I know that he's been undertaking this hunger fast with Cindy Sheehan and Susan Sarandon and all of the other Hollywood liberal types.
So I just want him to know that I have brought him a gift tonight. Now, we conservatives do believe in peace through strength, so we are going to bomb Reverend Sharpton and the others with bread. We have the classic Wonderbread and we have San Francisco sourdough bread.
COLMES: I'm glad you're only using bread if you're bombing them.
SHARPTON: Does she speak for the mainstream Republican Party? You know, if some Christian right leader like Jerry Falwell wanted to fast, I would respect that. This is the way the right behaves. When people raise their commitment, their view, they're mocked by them. We're talking about people dying, and she's coming with props. Even Sean Hannity has more class than that.
COLMES: In terms of over-the-top rhetoric, you said that Bill Keller, if he were to be tried and convicted of treason, the "The New York Times" editor, he should be sent to the gas chamber. If that's not over-the-top rhetoric — do you speak for the Republican Party when you say that? Do you speak for all conservatives? Is that not over-the-top rhetoric?
MORGAN: Once again, "The New York Times" can't find an accurate quote to save its life. That's not what I said. When asked a question, I said, "If he were to be tried and convicted of treason, I would have no problem with him receiving the ultimate penalty," which happens to be death.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: All right. Let me get back on topic, here. First, how many days are you going to fast?
SHARPTON: Three.
HANNITY: That's not a fast. That's like you went to prison, you said you were fasting. You were drinking soup every day.
SHARPTON: For 40 days, I did a liberal fast. I'll do a liberal fast. But again, we're not in an exercise game, here.
HANNITY: That's not a fast. Jack Murtha accused our troops of killing civilians in cold blood. John Kerry said our troops are terrorists, terrorizing women and children in the dark of night. The person you're fasting with said our soldiers are rapists and war criminals, that the president killed her son, that George Bush is a lying filthy bastard and a fuhrer. You're going to stand with a woman who says all of those things?
SHARPTON: I'm going to fast.
HANNITY: With a woman who says all those things?
SHARPTON: I fast on many religion holidays.
HANNITY: Stop ducking the question. Why are you supporting a woman who calls our president a lying, filthy bastard?
SHARPTON: Either you're going to let me answer the question, or you can just go on a tirade with your prognosis there.
HANNITY: I want you to answer it.
SHARPTON: I'm fasting because this war is wrong, this war was misleading from the beginning, and this is a morale sacrifice that many of us...
HANNITY: You are fasting with a woman who called our troops rapists and war criminals.
SHARPTON: I celebrate Christian holidays with people that are members of the Ku Klux Klan. It doesn't mean I agree with them.
You want to talk about your views of Cindy Sheehan rather than defend an immoral and wicked war.
HANNITY: I'm proud of this war. I'm proud of our president, and we're winning the war in spite of guys like you undermining the war.
SHARPTON: You're proud of the fact that there is clearly no weapons of mass destruction...
HANNITY: Five hundred of them.
SHARPTON: You should not be proud of the fact that we're now dealing with some soldiers that are being accused of inhuman behavior ... doing a job that is decent that they were sent there for.
HANNITY: Here's the point. They've undermined this war from the beginning. They stand by the most despicable statements that have been made about our president and our troops at a time of war. This is disgraceful, the way the American...
MORGAN: Hey, Reverend, I gave you some free bread, here, so let me talk for a moment, OK? I want to say something very important. The entire country has mixed emotions about Cindy Sheehan. Her popularity approval ratings are down in the 30s and low 20s. Regardless of what you think of her, let me say very clearly what she said in that comment was slanderous about our American troops. She slandered...
COLMES: What you said about sending someone to a gas chamber was despicable, Melanie Morgan. Unfortunately, we are just out of time.
MORGAN: And she also slandered the memory of her son, Casey. Our troops are not murderers.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,202573,00.html
Tell me, is this for real?!!!! I will be attending church tomorrow with Reverend Sharpton preaching.
from E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime
Back home a momentous change was coming over the United States. There was a new President, William Howard Taft, and he took office weighing three hundred and thirty two pounds.
All over the country men began to look at themselves. They were used to drinking great quantities of beer. They customarily devoured loaves of bread and ate prodigiously of the sausage meats of poured offal that lay on lunch counters of the saloons.
The august Pierpont Morgan at breakfasts of steaks and chops, eggs, pancakes, broiled fish, rolls and butter, fresh fruit and cream. The consumption of food was a sacrament of success. A man who carrid a great stomach before him was thought to be in his prime.
Women went into hospitals to die of burst bladders, collapsed lungs, overtaxed hearts and miningitis of the spine. There was a heavy traffic to the spas and sulphur springs, where the purgative was valued as an inducement to the appetite. America was a great farting country.
All this began to change when Taft moved into the White House. His accession to the one mythic office in the American imagination weighed everyone down. His great figure immediately expressed the apotheosis of that style of man.
--I thought that was interesting.
Posted by: ladytechie01 at July 15, 2006 11:23 PM
I know they're diverse. And I know many Christians who are 'left' and many who are 'right' and many who 'just don't involve themselves in politics.'
But the reason I want to take my message there is because I want them to remember the messege of Love and Peace that Jesus preached. And in a way, I personally feel shaken by the way the neocons made people afraid to support John Kerry in the 04 election through the use of churches. I don't want that to happen again.
I have nothing against the people who go to church. I am deeply spiritual in my own unique way. And I know many Christians, Jews, athiests, etc who still have a tremendous inner core of love and protection and integrity.
And it's those people who I hope to reach with my message.
Posted by: DiAnne at July 15, 2006 11:29 PM
If its Fox, its surreal.
All this began to change when Taft moved into the White House. His accession to the one mythic office in the American imagination weighed everyone down. His great figure immediately expressed the apotheosis of that style of man.
Posted by: DiAnne at July 15, 2006 11:51 PM
DiAnne,
Now that we have moron for a President, does that mean
Americans will now start to respect intellect and reasoning? After reading John Dean's introduction to his latest book, today's Americans don't seem to have the ability to move beyond authoritarians.
Sparrow
Good luck! Peace does not have a denomination.
http://www.stampandshout.com/shop/t-shirts/coexist.php
I want one of these interdenominational t-shirts.
logo: http://webdb1.patent.gov.uk/madridimage?imgid=090024db80e1a2ba&format=tif
the original artist: http://zafryki.art.pl/
background on it: http://www.atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=3995
(found out ownership of the design is very contested, but it's cool!)
Sparrow,
Good luck tomorrow. Your purity of heart and your sincerity will convince others to deeply consider their own feelings about America's responsibility in the Iraqi disaster.
Posted by: DiAnne at July 15, 2006 11:29 PM
Not only is this real, but this is the viewpoint that our troops are being brainwashed with.
I'm at the snapping point, between the neocon reactionary politics of the Marine base and the 115-degree heat there. I don't know if I'll be able to survive another two weeks out there.
(And having to battle, at another website, politically correct white liberals who deny the very existence of ethnic homophobia, is a dangerous distraction for me - and a waste of energy for the progressive movement.)
Posted by: sparrow at July 15, 2006 11:57 PM
I'd like to see more of the warm-hearted, progressive-thinking Christians. It's very hard for me to find them, even with the presence of a bilingual UCC congregation within walking distance of me.
The way I see it, Christianity has been manipulated by those in power over the centuries, to a point where Jesus would not even recognize it (or even better, throw up a fuss as he did with the merchants at a church). That's where my disgust with the Christian movement lies - and one reason why I left the faith. (I am still studying the matriarchal belief systems at this time.) Elevating W to the newest Christian prophet, as the neocons are doing, makes me puke even more.
It's time for the people of faith to return to bare basics and nothing more - to a message of hope and love. In other words, instead of living by the judgmental, hateful things said by Paul or the Old Testament, revert back to Jesus, the very figure Christianity was named after. The same lies with Islam and Judaism, both of which have been manipulated over the centuries, and currently taking a hard turn to the right as well.
http://www.stampandshout.com/shop/t-shirts/coexist.php
I want one of these interdenominational t-shirts.
logo: http://webdb1.patent.gov.uk/madridimage?imgid=090024db80e1a2ba&format=tif
the original artist: http://zafryki.art.pl/
background on it: http://www.atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=3995
(found out ownership of the design is very contested, but it's cool!)
Posted by: DiAnne at July 16, 2006 12:14 AM
DiAnne,
Last year, I remember going to a U2 concert in my area. And the ONE thing I remember the most clearly (aside from Bono talking about his charity at ONE.org) was the "COEXIST" logo flashing all over the arena walls.
I love the logo - though I feel that it needs to be more than just Judeo-Christo-Muslim.
I can hardly believe, as I sit here tonight, that it is election time '06 already.
The good news is that two years from now we'll only have a few months of Dubya to endure (if he hasn't been able to blow us all off the planet that is).
Yes, DiAnne, war is terrible for everyone concerned. The men who come home damaged are later discarded and scorned by their own peoples.
My nephew has served in two tours in Iraq - both in heavy fighting - once in the taking of Baghdad, and the second in Fallujah. He is drinking heavily already. It takes something away from them, bit by bit. He has a great wife who is there for him (an ex-Marine herself) and is rooting him on, but it has already taken a toll.
Facism, greed, war. It all sucks.
The Ballad Of Ira Hayes
~ by Johnny Cash
Ira Hayes,
Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Gather round me people there's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped
Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill,
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Ira returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored; Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Then Ira started drinkin' hard;
Jail was often his home
They'd let him raise the flag and lower it
like you'd throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk one mornin'
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin' thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died
http://www.canadawebpages.com/pc-editorial.asp?Key=2360&editorType=article&editorPrimeKeyword=chuckman&editorLink=
Afghanistan is no one's war
I have been waiting for someone to write this article.
It's Sunday morning and Dick and I are in Boston. He is here for a meeting and I came up to spend the day with him--we have seen so little of each other lately. The play has been an amazingly rich experience thus far and we are learning more every day about where it needs to go.
Unfortunately, where it needs to go is into the more recent horrors: Haditha and the rapes and murders. We are all concerned for Riverbend herself. So as beautiful as this day looks to be, it is hard to enjoy it purely for itself.
Last night we met mbk and several of the DU bloggers and we talked about the fast and Bush's recent gaffes with Merkel and Putin.
I don't think anyone feels better knowing the man is cognitively imploding.
But I think today it would be nice to just breathe deeply and enjoy each other, and then get back to work tomorrow. I will resume the fast and join the compadres at Lafayette Park for the next two days anyway.
For those in the DC/MD/VA area: it looks like Andy Shallal is throwing Fear Up a fundraiser next Monday evening at 8:00 at Busboys and Poets. Rep. Barbara Lee is going to be the special guest and several of the actors will read from the new version of the play. If you are around, or can get here, please consider it. Thanks.
Ally
Some of those liberals will have to experience the fact that they can't assume all minorities are automatically Democrats for themselves. I would have thought this last election would have convinced them. Campaigns are expensive, but with labor unions shrinking the Democrats cannot take one single black, Hispanic or other minority or immigrant vote for granted. (We have alot of new immigrants from Poland, Ukraine etc - as they become elligible to vote, who do they feel most represented by? It is not something to ignore, not with Condi & the neocons meddling in eastern Europe)
The "Coexist" emblem has one unauthorized version that includes more religions - it's also cheaper. It's more complex aesthetically, maybe less elegant, but more inclusive & quite clever.
http://www.stampandshout.com/shop/t-shirts/coexist.php
If I follow anything, it's Kwan Yin, who would have everyone go to heaven, every living being, before she would go herself; who represents Compassion; who is the Mother of All Boddhisattvas.
Today I'll go to Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Seattle and 36 years ago I went to Mt. Olive Baptist Church in St. Paul. I went to see a Panamanian illegal immigrant sing in the choir and he had sung in the Nixon White House. I noticed that the service was multi-purpose and included lots of political notices and plugs. At the time, I was thinking it was quite a way to organize the community. The sermon today will be given by Reverend Al Sharpton (if what we read on the internet is correct)
I'm taking my friend Touba from Iran. Before 9/11, she had never been in a mosque or read the Koran and she isn't Christian. She, her mother and sisters wore jeans in Iran and no veils, and they were all University educated. That was under Mosadeque, who was democratically elected and our CIA helped overthrow him. Her family left because of his brutal successor, Shah Reza Pahlevi, who was our friend. The people overthrew him but he was succeeded by Khomeini, so another brutal regime. So how are we spreading democracy? I knew people in US (students of mine) who opposed the Khomeini regime and they were consumed with politics. I thought they were fanatical at the time, but now we are living like they were then!
Big Fear: War May Explode Across Middle East
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003130204&zsection_id=2002107549&slug=war16&date=20060716
(Originally from Chicago Tribune, good comprehensive article about what could happen and why)
Dianne,
How's your fast going. Drink...drink...drink...
Karen,
Have a nice time with that stranger. What's his name again? ...... oh yeh...Have fun with Dick.
I'm literally on my way out the door to sit in front of churches. Hoping I'll catch them on the way in or out. Going to visit different ones.
bye
Calendar | Faith-based events
July 16-21
Guest preacher
Sun Renowned civil-rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton will preach the morning service at Mount Zion Baptist Church. Community welcome. 7:30 a.m.; 1634 19th Ave., Seattle, 206-322-6500 or www.mountzion.net.
Fasting too, btw, and agree with Karen's suggestion of Vitamin Water. Mine modified to protein drinks, given glycemia and other loveliness.
Kind of like when I stopped smoking decades ago, realizing all that time used to avoid conflict or resolution. Same with food, although more benign. Still the metabolic highs and lows that aren't healthy and productive, prevent a clarity and calm.
I get that tummy weight that gets offers for seats on subways, with happy looks as if pregnant, even at my very obvious older age.
For those of us who think we're activist, the emotional toll of no final success or an end to the road is frustrating. (Major uphill fight to even get votes counted by law.) I'm an emotional eater. Fasting stops the cycle.
I don't forget the seriousness of why we're fasting, which makes my angst pale by comparison.
Interesting NYT about the recent Israel conflict. Without assigning how much blame to whom, looks at reasons why all the players are flexing. Additionally, I always look at www.juancole.com for even-handedness, pulling no punches.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071606Z.shtml
I'll forever take issue with AIPAC, using the same emotional triggers and misinformation Bush pushes. That doesn't change the fragility of being Israel, there, without oil or friends.
Marjorie G. -- a public thank you for both the fasting and the help you have given Fear Up. (DCPers, she has been incredibly supportive!)
I heard how madame defarge has been burning up the joint in her neck of the woods--we need great acclaim to get her to write about it! {{sounds of wild cheers, hoots and clapping!}}
DiAnne, I cannot wait to hear about Rev. Al!!
And another faster, Suz, just called--she just finished painting a rock on a very busy highway. I'll let her tell the story later. But, really, we have all come a ways since we were brought together by a desire for new leadership in this country. We all would obviously love to see that happen and we are working for that as well, but think about it.
We are being the change we want!
Majorie G,
Thank you for everything you've done to help with election fraud and now this Fear Up production.
Good work!
I heard how madame defarge has been burning up the joint ...
Posted by: karen at July 16, 2006 12:07 PM
Holy smokes!