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The Earth Does Not Belong To Us
Every now and again we need to step outside of politics to take a look at what lies behind the politics.
Recent blog comments here at the Democracy Cell Project have touched upon the arrogance of power, the hubris of geocentricity, the divisiveness of racial and sectarian bias -- all things that may be in the forefront of our minds today, but that are hardly new in the human condition.
Reading through these comments, and reflecting upon the timelessness of the assumptions that they address, kept calling to my mind some poetic remarks that are commonly attributed to a letter allegedly written by the Native American leader Chief Seattle to President Franklin Pierce in 1854.
While there is scholarly question as to the veracity of that attribution, as noted in some detail here, there is little doubt that those widely-quoted remarks have become familiar to all of us over the years.
But one of the frailties of being human is that we tend to forget too quickly the things that should guide us in our hearts and minds. And regardless of their source, those words attributed to Chief Seattle deserve to be quoted here once again, because they speak as truly to us now as they ever have.
Perhaps Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney and Ms. Rice and Mr. Gates should take a moment to read and take to heart these words and the meaning behind them before embarking on their next rounds of international meddling. The world would be a better place for it if they did.
---------------
"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
"Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
"We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.
"The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
"The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.
"If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
"Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
"This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
"One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
"Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
"When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
"We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.
"As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.
"One thing we know -- there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We are all brothers after all."
As far as Webb snapping at Bush...
Webb was out of line. Bush asked him a question about the health of his son.
Webb decided a cheap shot was in order.
Webb is wrong and should apologise.
Before you respond, stop the claptrap about how bad Bush is and all that crap.
Yes, Bush is the worst President and maybe the worst person ever.
But not this time.
That is always so amazing to read - thanks!
more:
The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of the pond, the smell of the wind itself cleansed by a midday rain, or scented with pinon pine. The air is precious to the red man, for all things are the same breath - the animals, the trees, the man.
When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires, where is the thicket? Where is the eagle? Gone.
And what is it to say farewell to the swift and the hunt, to the end of living and the beginning of survival? We might understand if we knew what is was that white man dreams, what he describes to his children on long winter nights, what visions he burns into their minds, so they will wish for tomorrow. But we are savages. The white man’s dreams are hidden from us.
Battlebob
I don't think it's wrong for people to doubt the sincerity of someone who mimicked a woman about to go on death row or thought maybe people with three jobs might be tired. Bush is not known for sensitivity. Why take sides in this one.
"In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close."
Bill Frist
Hallelujah praise the Lord! May he go back to operating on baboon hearts.
battlebob we know your heart is in the right place, but hell freezing over is when Bush will get an apology.
Somehow Bush thinks that backslapping and talking about personal matters will ingratiate him and paper over his dispicable behavior in managing the war. That is why I jovially mentioned the twins who are too busy having a good time to volunteer for daddy's war. Webb does not feel that his son's safety is something he wants to joke about and he is well within his rights to speak truth to power. Bush never listens to voters, his own advisors or his own military and coddling him even more just reinforces that arrogance. This is just not the time for one of Bush's nicknames or bear hugs, not when our brave soldiers lives are on the line. Perhaps if more of our politicians spoke up that way 4 years ago we might not be in the fix we are in now.
Gates criticizes Iraq planning, promises better
Defense nominee opposes quick pullout, supports engaging Iran and Syria
Updated: 1 minute ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former CIA Director Robert Gates, President Bush's nominee for defense Secretary, criticized the handling of the war in Iraq and said he will improve Pentagon postwar planning if he is confirmed.
Gates also endorsed the idea of engaging Iran and Syria for help in stabilizing increasingly violent Iraq, an opinion at odds with Bush's.
Gates made the comments in response to a questionnaire from the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is to hold a confirmation hearing next week.
"War planning should be done with the understanding that post-major combat phase of operations can be crucial," Gates said in a 65-page written response submitted to the committee Tuesday.
"If confirmed, I intend to improve the department's capabilities in this area," he said in answer to a question about what he would have done differently. "With the advantage of hindsight, I might have done some things differently."
Gates also appeared to subtly criticize the invasion of Iraq.
"I believe the use of pre-emptive force should be based on very strong evidence," he said when asked about incorrect intelligence saying that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. "It is a decision that must not be taken lightly," Gates added.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15952358/
I know that impeachment of the president is a subject near and/or dear to many of us here. I just took one of my daily looks over at CultureKitchen and noticed a rather thought-provoking entry on that very subject: http://culturekitchen.com/node/9767
too many cooks spoil the bawk bawk bawk,
Otter
Rick:
Thank you for such a timeless and timely piece.
Just listening to NPR today, I noticed a number of stories related to global warming. One of which is the case going before the court to argue against state's rights to buck EPA's standards on global warming, and set up their own (higher) standards.
Of course we've heard the back and forth from the auto and oil industry flacks on the matter. The one statement that glared out was that carbon dioxide is not a harmful emission.
Such convenient compartmentalization of logic, spoken with earnest intent by an industry pinhead. It was hard not to throw my coffee cup at the radio.
"Perhaps if more of our politicians spoke up that way 4 years ago we might not be in the fix we are in now."
~~Posted by: Bubba at November 29, 2006 12:25 PM
There are days when I feel I've gone past the point of anger about that, but then there are days (like today) when it grates at me more than ever and I'm pissed at every single person who voted for IRW. (Yes, *gasp* that's what I said, "who voted for IRW." Although I think that subject has been talked/analyzed/discussed and even put-to-rest too death.) I worked very hard from the impeachment on as did millions and millions of others around the world to try and stop this madness (GWB in office and his subsequent insanity) and for our efforts to stop a war in Iraq GWB said, "Sounds like a focus group to me." Those words still slap.
Battlebob's heart is in the right place, I agree, but given the opportunity to speak to GWB, I would express my disgust and walk away. I applaud Jim Webb for not being polite. Way past polite.
And yes, I know demonizing GWB is projecting my own shadow. The bill fits him to a "T," which of course makes my own work all that much harder. Gratitude for that in my next life.
And speaking of industry pinheads, he segued smoothly: http://mediamatters.org/items/200611280014
Great blog, Rick. Who knew such beauty and common sense would set my teeth on edge? :-\ (Not your fault.)
Easy, kj. Easy, girl. Beauty Mind. Beauty Mind.
om, om on the range,
Otter
Otter, yes, listen for the "om." Sometimes though hearing it makes me want to roar. Arg.
Lotus position now. Roar is a spice, not a life style.
Yes. There you go. Time to be a Spice Girl for the afternoon.
:0)
and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land,
Otter
The Voice of The Turtle. Yes. Deep breath.
"Beauty above me
Beauty below me..."
http://1stholistic.com/Spl_prayers/prayer_navaho-chant.htm
Navajo Chant:
House made of dawn.
House made of evening light.
House made of the dark cloud.
House made of male rain.
House made of dark mist.
House made of female rain.
House made of pollen.
House made of grasshoppers.
Dark cloud is at the door.
The trail out of it is dark cloud.
The zigzag lightning stands high upon it.
An offering I make.
Restore my feet for me.
Restore my legs for me.
Restore my body for me.
Restore my mind for me.
Restore my voice for me.
This very day take out your spell for me.
Happily I recover.
Happily my interior becomes cool.
Happily I go forth.
My interior feeling cool, may I walk.
No longer sore, may I walk.
Impervious to pain, may I walk.
With lively feelings may I walk.
As it used to be long ago, may I walk.
Happily may I walk.
Happily, with abundant dark clouds, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant showers, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant plants, may I walk.
Happily, on a trail of pollen, may I walk.
Happily may I walk.
Being as it used to be long ago, may I walk.
May it be beautiful before me.
May it be beautiful behind me.
May it be beautiful below me.
May it be beautiful above me.
May it be beautiful all around me.
In beauty it is finished.
In beauty it is finished.
Yes. Beauty Mind.
Keeping with the Native American writers theme:
http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/joy/poems/Horses.html
She had some horses.
She had horses who were bodies of sand.
She had horses who were maps drawn of blood.
She had horses who were skins of ocean water.
She had horses who were the blue air of sky.
She had horses who were fur and teeth.
She had horses who were clay and would break.
She had horses who were splintered red cliff.
She had some horses.
She had horses with long, pointed breasts.
She had horses with full, brown thighs.
She had horses who laughed too much.
She had horses who threw rocks at glass houses.
She had horses who licked razor blades.
She had some horses.
She had horses who danced in their mothers' arms.
She had horses who thought they were the sun and their bodies shone and burned like stars.
She had horses who waltzed nightly on the moon.
She had horses who were much too shy, and kept quiet in stalls of their own making.
She had some horses.
She had horses who liked Creek Stomp Dance songs.
She had horses who cried in their beer.
She had horses who spit at male queens who made them afraid of themselves.
She had horses who said they weren't afraid.
She had horses who lied.
She had horses who told the truth, who were stripped bare of their tongues.
She had some horses.
She had horses who called themselves, "horse."
She had horses who called themselves, "spirit." and kept their voices secret and to themselves.
She had horses who had no names.
She had horses who had books of names.
She had some horses.
She had horses who whispered in the dark, who were afraid to speak.
She had horses who screamed out of fear of the silence, who carried knives to protect themselves from ghosts.
She had horses who waited for destruction.
She had horses who waited for resurrection.
She had some horses.
She had horses who got down on their knees for any savior.
She had horses who thought their high price had saved them.
She had horses who tried to save her, who climbed in her bed at night and prayed as they raped her.
She had some horses.
She had some horses she loved.
She had some horses she hated.
These were the same horses.
JOY HARJO
Thanks, Otter.
CNN: The White House says that President Bush's talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have been put off until tomorrow, wires services report.
coddling him even more just reinforces that arrogance.
Posted by: Bubba at November 29, 2006 12:25 PM
given the opportunity to speak to GWB, I would express my disgust and walk away. I applaud Jim Webb for not being polite. Way past polite.
Posted by: kj at November 29, 2006 01:00 PM
What most people who do have a conscience fail to realize is that appeasing the man with no conscience gives him more power over his victims. It's the one fact about psychopaths that has never been grasped by spinmeisters and pundits who praise DimWit for his ability to stick to his 'plans.' DimWit comes out on top every time because so few stamd up to him. They think he'll magically become a man with a conscience at some point, and since he was born without a conscience (I believe), he will never change. Never. Acceptance of that fact is the key to understanding the current situation with this government. DimWit MUST have the crown of hubris taken from him; i.e. he MUST be impeached or forced to resign from office to save this nation.
I agree with kj.... Webb doesn't owe DimWit an apology. He spoke his mind, and too few people speak their minds to this administration. It's about time someone did. Too bad Webb's son can't be brought hom ASAP; I'd fear 'friendly fire' if I were in Webb's son's position.
NonnyO, it is extremely difficult to have compassion for GWB. Nor am I altogether sure, as you said above, it is even due him. He is one damaged human being. I don't see evidence of his soul. A plague for our times.
And anger that we couldn't stop him before he spread his damage worldwide.
Okay, already one intervention by Otter, ;-), off to read Navajo Chant again.
Or "She Had Some Horses" by Joy Harjo.
That poem has power that stills at the end. As poems must.
US setbacks see dollar plunge to near 15-year low
The dollar tumbled to a near 15-year low against sterling yesterday on fresh signs of economic trouble in the United States.
more...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/11/29/cndollar29.xml
Could use a little global warming here today. Just bought groceries because we're supposed to have a third storm. It's laughable in a way to someone like me who lived in the upper midwest that a few inches can paralyze this area but it's built on hills and huge variations in altitude plus convergence zones where incoming Pacific Ocean storms meet outgoing ocean-headed mountain storms.
Teachers are off today so that means they must make up time when the weather warms up. I work in an outpatient clinic so we close when the schools close. I end up using precious vacation time but I guess it's kind of nice. Many women had 3-4 months maternity leave after their children were born. We are the only developed country that doesn't have a decent parental leave plan (except for CA). I took off two weeks after giving birth, since I was a graduate student - so I guess this is one of the first times in my adult life I've been able to spend time in my house.
Even so, I was at the grocery store and an elderly Chinese-American woman helped me take my groceries to my car. I could have done it myself but I thought it would be fun if we did it together and it was. She's earning money, getting out and also bettering her English and meeting people. I could tell she was really enjoying it and hoped she got through the day without slipping on the ice. She asked me why I was using a vacation day to clean my house and buy groceries - was it because I was a woman. I laughed and said "Of course!"
Before that, I took my first tentative treacherous drive to my husband's workplace, to deliver him a nicotine patch. He had forgotten and I was afraid he would revert to sneaking a smoke. Then I went to the bakery where my son works and got a free almond cappucino. There I read a long story in "Seattle Women" about how Arab-American women are coping in this city after 9/11 and the efforts they are making to build bridges with the community and educate people about themselves, about their diversity. I learned that I had some stereotypes that weren't very accurate, even though I've been interested in the area for years and known alot of people from there. I'd love to write about it when I get time.
Anyway, just checking in before I venture out before another storm hits. It's completely up in the air whether we'll work tomorrow. It's odd to get up at 6 AM and check a computer to see whether to go to work!
About the dollar hitting the low, there will be no saved-for exotic vacation this year. I completely blame it on Governor Bush (the Texan not the Florida one) and why is it he'll seek out Webb and ask about his son but won't talk to Cindy Sheehan who has been requesting it for a couple of years now? It would have been better for his PR if he would have tried to dialogue with either of these people, but that's beyond his capability.
It's so bizarre that I was driving along thinking about how we got into this fix where North Korea and Iran are threatening to have nuclear defense capabilities. They did it after being referred to publicly as the "axis of evil." That was un-called for - what was it but a public announcement of the global domination plans of the armchair philosopher / chickenhawk neocons, which were doomed to failure. We could completely have left some of those countries alone - not made them paranoid.
I don't see evidence of his soul.
Posted by: kj at November 29, 2006 02:00 PM
The point is, he doesn't have a soul. He has no conscience, and he is incapable of empathy or compassion - his only goal in life is power over other people and he doesn't give a damn how he gets that power; ergo, no 'soul.'
The biggest mistake anyone with a conscience makes about him is thinking of him in terms of a person with a conscience, that he will one day magically wake up and see the mistakes he's made. He doesn't now, nor will he ever, believe he's made any mistakes. He does not have a conscience, he never had a conscience, he was born this way, he will die this way, and there are no magic pills (or prayers) that will ever give him a conscience.
Difficult concept to grasp for anyone who has a conscience (and, obviously, you do have a conscience). If I hadn't had any personal experience with people like that, I'd still think people with no conscience could acquire one either through education or therapy or medication, but now I know better. Nothing Bu$h has said in the last six years has led me to believe he has a conscience. It just isn't in him. He's a conscienceless power-hungry megalomaniac.
WOMEN OWN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
By Martha Burk, TomPaine.com
Analysis shows that female voters determined the 2006 elections. Will women-friendly policy result?
http://www.alternet.org/stories/44857/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061129/ap_on_re_us/ohio_voting
Ohio county may junk e-voting machines
CLEVELAND - The commissioners of the state's most populous county are considering getting rid of touch-screen voting machines and putting in a new system for the presidential election in 2008.
~~~~~
Hagan and Dimora said they want high-speed, optical-scan machines, which read paper ballots, to replace the touch-screen machines. Hagan said the commissioners need to decide this year.
{More on link.}
http://mediamatters.org/items/200611290006?src=item200611290006
Olbermann named O'Reilly "Worst Person" for saying imams kicked off plane "wouldn't get handcuffed in Crate & Barrel if they started chanting and stuff"
{Click video, but written transcript is also there....}}}
Jason Leopold | Report: US Still Manipulating Iraq Intelligence
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112906J.shtml
Jason Leopold reports that the Justice Department's Inspector General announced Monday that it will immediately launch a probe into the agency's involvement with the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program, raising suspicions among Democrats who believe the timing of the investigation is an attempt by the Bush administration to circumvent Congressional hearings into the issue when Democrats assume control of the House in January.
Judge Strikes Bush's Terror List
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112906K.shtml
A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-September 11 executive order was unconstitutional and vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.
Elizabeth de la Vega | Part II: The Indictment
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112906N.shtml
Elizabeth de la Vega constructs a fictional indictment of the Bush administration based on criminal facts. She writes: "We're here today in the case of United States v. George W. Bush et al. In addition to President Bush, the defendants are Vice President Richard B. Cheney, former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice - who's now the Secretary of State, of course - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. It's a one-count proposed indictment: Conspiracy to Defraud the United States in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371."
European Report Details Flights by CIA Aircraft - Polish, Romanian Facilities Cited
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112906O.shtml
European report details the secret CIA flights to detention facilities in Poland and Romania. Airport directors were offered large sums of cash to land planes from faraway places like Afghanistan.
Dean Baker | Will the Democrats Cut and Run on the Medicare Drug Bill?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112906P.shtml
Dean Baker writes: "It takes courage for politicians to fight powerful special interest rate groups. The reform of the Medicare prescription drug benefit will provide a clear test as to whether the Democratic Congressional leadership has enough backbone to stand up for the public good and follow through on one of their most important campaign promises."
John Kerry on Larry King tonight.
"How's your son" was a jab. An understanding president would have said "I know it's bad over there; we need to work together to bring your son home."
I am a Vietnam vet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/us/29wreath.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Pro-Peace Symbol Forces Win Battle in Colorado Town
~snip~
"...there are now more peace symbols in Pagosa Springs, a town of 1,700 people 200 miles southwest of Denver, than probably ever in its history.
On Tuesday morning, 20 people marched through the center carrying peace signs and then stomped a giant peace sign in the snow perhaps 300 feet across on a soccer field, where it could be easily seen."
Posted by: kj at November 29, 2006 03:49 PM
Awesome.
And btw, to all those wingers who are fighting to say "Merry Christmas" vs. "Happy Holidays", PEACE ON EARTH is the reason for the season, so sayeth the PRINCE OF PEACE, so get onboard or take a hike.
St. Peacenick
re. Frist's decision not to run in '08:
one opinion from Tennessee-- WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!
Thanks for listening.
U.S. moving up to 2,700 troops into Baghdad
November 29, 2006
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In an effort to restore security in Baghdad, the U.S. military plans to move at least three more battalions of American soldiers into the Iraqi capital, a senior Pentagon official said.
Between 500 and 900 troops are in an Army battalion, but the Pentagon official could not give the exact number of troops involved in the movements.
The official said the troops will not include Marines based in Sunni-dominated Anbar province, where troops and insurgents have been fighting along the Euphrates River corridor. Instead, the official said, the troops will be moved from more peaceful regions, such as northern Iraq.
The troop shifts won't require an increase in forces in the country, the official said.
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/29/iraq.main/index.html
Gee, deja vu, almost 6 months to the day since....
U.S. to increase troops in Baghdad
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
The U.S. will bolster the number of troops in Baghdad to help quell violence in the area, U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday.
Bush made the comments following a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the White House.
"Conditions change inside a country," Bush said during a news conference with the Iraqi leader.
The president said progress is being made elsewhere in Iraq. He said that will allow more U.S. troops to go to Baghdad from other parts of the country in the coming weeks. The plan will embed more U.S. military police with Iraqi police units to make them more effective, the president said.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/07/25/bush-iraq.html
Here's what I don't quite "get" -
Iraq had a military force before the Bu$h invason.
Iraq had police officers before the Bu$h invasion.
What's so difficult about getting them "trained" in a very short period of time...?
Seriously. The police officers and military personnel are adults, not backward children, and I don't get the whole thing about getting them trained or why it's supposedly taking so long. The way Bu$hCo talks about Iraq adults implies they're all backward children who didn't have any police officers or military officers prior to the Bu$h invasion, and that's a demeaning assumption.
Every time there's a question about getting Iraqi forces "trained" the timeline is extended further on out... which just delays any proposed timeline for getting the troops home (not that they'll be able to do so during DimWit's tenure, since he's already said that as long as he's the presidunce the US military will be in Iraq, so my assumption is that no matter who proposes timelines, even Cons, our people will still be dying for lies and oil by election day '08 and/or inauguration day '09 (assuming the little dictator doesn't cancel the election).
Damn pinkie hippo peacenik, doncha know there's a war on??
We're supposed to get snow tonight and tomorrow. (Although what passes for "snow" here is nothing but a dusting to me!) Anyway, I plan on stomping a huge peace sign in the front yard. In solidarity with the folks in Colorado and in honor of St. Peacenik. S:-P
KJ
I'll do it too!
NonnyO
I don't think there's much problem with the Iraqi military and police force getting trained, equipped and armed. I think the problem is more with infiltration by all sorts of people with their own agendas. It's a big free-for-all, at taxpayer expense, and will probably go on long after our own troops come home. On the flip side, we've even had neoNazis from this country join in order to go over to get trained, equipped and armed. Granted, they were in the small minority but we also trained, equipped and armed the "bad apples" who stood guard at Abu Graib. Gotta hand it to those in the underground economy - they may not pay taxes for roads, schools etc (unless sales tax on things they buy) but they also don't pay to train, equip and arm miscellaneous uncontrolled elements like we taxed working stiffs do. It's beyond ironic.
Iraq had a military force before the Bu$h invason.
Iraq had police officers before the Bu$h invasion.
What's so difficult about getting them "trained" in a very short period of time...?
Posted by: NonnyO at November 29, 2006 05:03 PM
BushCo & the neocons fired the military & police along with the buracrats, teachers, doctors, etc, when they decided to go the "Debaathification" route back in the days of Bremer's edicts-- one of the many instances of shooting themselves in the foot... (feet?)
oops...
Key Bush summit on Iraq delayed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6194458.stm
A key meeting between US President George W Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki aimed at tackling Iraq's growing violence has been delayed.
The two men are in Jordan and were to have evening talks with King Abdullah, but Mr Bush and Mr Maliki will now meet on Thursday, officials said.
The move came after an Iraqi political grouping suspended its participation in government in protest at the meeting.
It also follows the leak of a US memo raising doubts over Mr Maliki.
US officials said the change to the schedule was because Mr Maliki had met King Abdullah earlier in the day, denying the move was a snub by Mr Maliki or related to the leaked memo...
BBC blurb for analysis article:
Blame game
Americans are starting to blame Iraqis for the problems in Iraq, Paul Reynolds writes...
~~~~~~~~~~ the article
US starts to pin blame on Iraqis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6195088.stm
We need to create a story around St. Peacenik!
Something to write out and send to friends and family over the... what do I call them... holidays? LOL And include pictures of his signs that were left in front yards in the snow and plastered on houses and cars and billboards!
St. Peacenik Returns!
kj -
I love that image! St. Peacenik, save us all!
Posted by: aimzzz at November 29, 2006 05:43 PM
Sounds about right for a group who touts the "value' of personal responsibility as a moral imperative.
What next? A Bush claim that 'the Sunni's ate my homework'???
My older brother and sister created a "Peace on Earth" banner that covered the window/curtain box thing in the living room where I grew up. We put it up every Christmas. 1960s.
Carol,
Monkey started the story of St. Peacenik but I think the details of his/her life are yet to be created...
"Once upon a time, just yesterday afternoon, in a land quite like our own... there lived a couple of children... quite like our own... a brother and sister... (I'm leaning toward St. Peacenik being a symbol, sort of like "Who is John Galt" or "Kilroy" so as to keep the mystery of gender in question)
(making chix soup bbl)
Posted by: DiAnne at November 29, 2006 05:27 PM
Posted by: aimzzz at November 29, 2006 05:30 PM
Hmmmm..... If the Iraqis want to make DimWit cave in (however slightly), they need to unite, get themselves trained, and then Bu$histas have no reason to keep our troops there. Then if they want to continue their civil war, they can do so after the US leaves. Their civil war just gives DimWit an excuse to leave the US military there.
Caesar used the divide and conquer tactic very effectively against the Gaulish Celts, in particular, ca 60-55 BCE. Vercingetorix was captured, sent back to Rome, was a prisoner there for about seven years before Caesar got back, and just after the triumphal march through the streets of Rome, Vercingetorix was killed.
Centuries later, Brian Boru's most difficult task was uniting the various Celtic tribes of Ireland to try to oust the Vikings. He succeeded, briefly, and was killed.
Lesson for the Iraqis: If you want the US troops out of Iraq, stop fighting each other. You must be united in your cause or that idiot Bu$h or his henchmen will just keep US troops there longer. If you want to resume your civil war later, go ahead. But if you don't unite against a common enemy, the enemy will be there a very long time.
Non Sequitur
http://www.msnbc.com/comics/daily.asp?sFile=nq061128
Gee, this would be funny if it wasn't so accurate....
http://www.msnbc.com/comics/daily.asp?sfile=nq061129&vts=112920061339
http://www.americanprogress.org/cartoons
Today's American Progress Cartoon
Rick, what an excellent thread starter! Thanks. I remember a picture book published back in the early '80s when my 2 sons were primary schoolers. The book was a beautifully illustrated version of Chief Seattle's letter and I thought at the time, "If only we could become indoctrinated with this philosophy instead of the propaganda of superiority and hate that arises through our differences. How much easier it should be to teach respect rather than possessions, greed, hate and vengeance.
This reminded me of my late Secondary School years when I studied Aboriginal history. I studied it and I sat a 3 hour exam on the subject. I was required to write an essay on the successful extinction of Tasmanian Aborigines. I wrote it. Success in exams requires regurgitation of doctrine, not thought, reason or actual truth.
Imagine my surprise when I arrived in Devonport, Tasmania in 2003 to find that there was a local Aboriginal Corporation. Fascinated, I went to meet these people - who were extinct - descendants of a north eastern Tasmanian Aboriginal tribe. They invited me to an educational day in one of the tribe's favoured camp grounds. Many middens remain there and just being there, the presence felt in that beautiful place in the forest of the Narantawpu Range, by the edge of a huge lake, was truly awesome. Until you feel this, the meaning of *awesome* is never really understood. That day, this presence gave me the definition.
An elder of this group explained to me, "Some people say they own this land, or that land. They don't. No one owns the land. We are merely caretakers. If we are to benefit from the bounty, then we must honour, nurture, restore and allow rest and regeneration of that land."
Not only did I find Aborigines in Tasmania, I found their understanding of the needs of the land to be superior to most who have arrived since 1788. They were never driven by greed. By need. Never by greed. There was no concept of individual ownership of possessions. They had no interest in accumulating possessions. Sensible really. In order to protect and allow rest and regeneration of tribal lands they regularly moved to another location.
In less than 200 years on the Australian mainland, the invaders rampaged through the land turning much of it to heavily salinated wasteland. They herded the inhabitants into "cattle yards" called 'missions' on the outskirts of the towns. They gave these former residents disease, tobacco, alcohol and poverty. And the lighter skinned children, often the product of rape of the Aboriginal women and girls, were taken from them and given to white families to raise or use as they deemed fit. Until when?
People of the moon bird
October 25 2002
By Richard Flanagan
In Tasmania over the past few months tension has steadily built over a single question to which it may be presumed there is a very simple answer: Who is an Aborigine?
On an island of ironies, where leading Aboriginal activists can have fair skin and blue eyes, the question becomes daily more perplexing. Even to Tasmanian Aborigines, some of whom are predicting bloodshed, the answer is divisive. To the rest of the world it is merely baffling; for Tasmania is to this day frequently, and wrongly, cited as the site of the only successful genocide in history.
On that strange, sorry island so far away, the antipode of the Antipodes, it was said a race of indigenous people had within 80 years of the English invasion disappeared from the face of the earth as surely as the dodo. Glosses on their fate varied, but no doubt was had as to the fate itself. With the death of Truganini in 1876, the last of the Tasmanians was gone.
The dominant early view was that they had been wiped out by the colonisers. This at least had the honesty of acknowledging the horror of the English invasion. The Abor-igines had fought back in a long war, and some, if not all, early colonists recognised their right in doing so.
"Whatever the future historian of Tasmania may have to say," wrote the 19th century historian J. E. Calder, "he will do them an injustice if he fails to record that, as a body, they held their ground bravely for 30 years against the invaders of their beautiful domains."
But this view dimmed as a new idea took hold later in the 19th century, backed with the ballast of the most advanced scientific thought. Nothing seemed to offer more striking proof to the late Victorian mind of the infernal truth of social Darwinism than the supposed demise of the Tasmanian Aborigines. They were an inferior race, a meek and primitive people doomed to die out, and the coming of the English, with their diseases and guns, had merely hastened the inevitable.
It was a strangely pervasive and persuasive view that held until as late as the 1970s when prominent archaeologists would still talk of "the declining technological base of the extinct Tasmanian Aborigines".
While this wistful debate went on, the descendants of Tasmanian Aborigines battled a bizarre and most Tasmanian of fates. Some were discriminated against as blacks, subjected to different laws, forced until the 1940s to live in special areas, and until the 1970s subjected to a policy of assimilation that could result in their children being taken away. But they would be reviled if they called for equal rights as Aborigines, being told Tasmanian Aborigines didn't exist.
Identity is ever fluid, no more so than on an island where reality makes ceaseless attempts to imitate fiction. In the Hollywood of the 1940s, a young starlet's racially dubious Anglo-Indian provenance led her studio to create a new identity that they thought would place her above the suspicion of racial taint. The starlet was renamed Merle Oberon, and given a new past that began with her birth and childhood in distant Tasmania.
When this fraud was revealed recently, there was uproar in Tasmania. A large extended family on the east coast said not only was it all a media lie, but that they were Merle Oberon's family, descended, in an ironic twist, from a Chinese hotel worker from north-east Tasmania called Lottie Chintock.
To read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/24/1035416933020.html
Aimzz
Oh my god you're right - they fired the military and police, then protected the oil fields while letting the archeological remains of the cradle of civilization get trashed .. a few vases, Rumsfeld said.
and everyone is so dispersed now .. anyone leaving for the airport who can get out .. to anywhere
It would be hard to tell a Ba'athist from a Baptist by now
Get ready for Sarko! (Sarkozy vs Segolene / France 2007)
Fans praise ``Sarko'' as a new breed of energetic politician who wants to shake up France from top to bottom. Critics call him authoritarian and a threat to the country's social safety net.
On foreign policy, he's vocally pro-American and an opponent of predominantly Muslim Turkey's campaign to join the European Union.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Should prove tres interessante.
http://www.guardian.co.uk breaking
Kerry Says It's Time to Move On
WASHINGTON (AP) - Enough with The Joke, John Kerry says. The Massachusetts senator and former Democratic presidential nominee said Wednesday night that it's time to move on from his botched attempt at humor before the midterm election.
Kerry had said young people might get ``stuck in Iraq'' if they do not study hard and do their homework. He said he was trying to poke fun at President Bush, but Bush and others accused him of criticizing the troops.
``This is getting silly,'' Kerry said on CNN's ``Larry King Live.'' ``The country needs to think about a policy that has young men and women at risk on a daily basis that is not working.''
Kerry also said he has not decided yet whether he will run for the White House again in 2008.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll taken the week after the Nov. 7 election, he'd have some work to win over the hearts of many Americans. He got the lowest popularity ratings of 20 national leaders in the survey.
``I would have voted myself last, based on when it was taken,'' Kerry said, joking again.
Natl Institute to Recommend Decert of all Touch Screen Voting
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/29/205434/88
Weighing in on my opinion on Webb's posture towards Bush. He obviously has Shrub's number, and is not about to triviolize the seriousness of his son's well being. He sounds like a straight shooter, a real person. Good for him. We need lots more just like him.
My two cents.
The Torture Society
By Ted Rall
The United States is trying to burnish its nasty image as one of the world's leading torture states--not by eliminating torture, but by silencing its victims. In a remarkable bit of legal sang-froid, the Bush Administration has filed a brief in its case against Majid Khan asking a federal court to seal its torture of him as "top secret."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15778.htm
Saudi will intervene in Iraq if US withdraws-aide:
Using money, weapons or its oil power, Saudi Arabia will intervene to prevent Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from massacring Iraqi Sunni Muslims once the United States begins pulling out of Iraq, a security adviser to the Saudi government said on Wednesday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15767.htm
Excerpt:
Obaid listed three options being considered by the Saudi government:
- providing "Sunni military leaders (primarily ex-Baathist members of the former Iraqi officer corps, who make up the backbone of the insurgency) with the same types of assistance", including funding and arms.
- establishing new Sunni brigades to combat the Iranian-backed militias;
- or the Saudi king "may decide to strangle Iranian funding of the militias through oil policy. If Saudi Arabia boosted production and cut the price of oil in half ... it would be devastating to Iran ... The result would be to limit Tehran's ability to continue funnelling hundreds of millions each year to Shi'ite militias in Iraq and elsewhere."
{{{Why is Saudi Arabia only now, after Dickie's visit, willing to step in and "help" in any way? What are they getting out of it, aside from buku bucks and a continued silence over the fact that most of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia (and for this Bu$h ordered the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq - talk about wrong-way Corrigan!)? This would seem to consolidate power between Bu$histas and the Saudis and PNAC, all for the sake of controlling most of the world's oil. No wonder they hold hands like lovers, eh? Oh... and just as an aside: I watched BBC news earlier. Disneyland in France may be bought by someone else who has put a bid on it. The current owners of Disneyland in France are Disney and a Saudi monarch of some sort, no name given of the Saudi - I thought that was "interesting"....}}}
Now This Is What I Call Must See TV...
"But by the time he got to the set of "The View," DeVito had clearly hit a wall.
"Flushed and slurring, he called Bush something the censors bleeped and started to crow about the Democrats' election sweep.
"What about that hat trick last week! [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld, the House and the Senate - ta-da!" he said. "I took my clothes off."
"The audience roared and the hostesses egged him on.
"A mugging DeVito regaled the increasingly uncomfortable gals with a lengthy imitation of Bush as, variously, a monkey, a dribbling cretin and one of the Three Stooges."
- more -
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/475842p-400286c.html
Source: Iraq panel to advise gradual U.S. pullback
Following an intense assessment of U.S. policies in the war in Iraq, the Iraq Study Group will recommend that a "gradual but meaningful" reduction of U.S. troops begin "relatively early in the New Year," a source familiar with the group's deliberations tells CNN. The report will be released next week.
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 52 minutes ago
AMMAN, Jordan - President Bush pledged Thursday that U.S. troops will remain in Iraq to strengthen the authority of embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and said the two agreed to speed a turnover of security responsibility to Iraqi forces.
“One of his frustrations with me is that he believes that we’ve been slow about giving him the tools necessary to protect the Iraqi people,” Bush said. “Today we had a meeting that will accelerate the capacity for the prime minister to do the hard work necessary to help stop this violence.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15946832/
Well, there ya go.
---------------
DENVER (AP) -- Telecommunications, food, motel rooms, transportation and other logistics are all arranged if the 2008 Democratic National Convention comes to Denver instead of New York, leaving fundraising and union relationships the remaining question marks, organizers say.
And those are being rapidly addressed as the national party gets closer to deciding whether to nominate its next presidential candidate in the Mile High City or in the Big Apple, Denver host committee Executive Director Debbie Willhite said Wednesday.
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean is expected to make a choice by the end of the year, based on which city he believes would give the biggest boost to the party's nominee, spokesman Damien LaVera said.
Political leaders in the West say Denver is an obvious choice because of the party's gains in the region in the Nov. 7 election, but to get the nod the city's host committee will have to prove it can raise the $55 million necessary to handle the needs of the party and the estimated 35,000 people who would attend the Aug. 25-28 convention.
[snip]
About 50 members of Congress, including incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have written to Dean in support of Denver's bid.
Mayor John Hickenlooper has said political leaders in other Western states were helping to raise money and other support for Denver's bid because the convention could help raise the profile of a region that has become increasingly important to both major political parties.
The last time Denver played host to a national political convention was in 1908, when Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska. He was defeated by Republican William Taft.
http://tinyurl.com/yyvtkm
---------------
high time for another one,
Otter
Disembowelled, then torn apart: The price of daring to teach girls
The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy.
The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he would return safely. But his life was over, he was part-disembowelled and then torn apart with his arms and legs tied to motorbikes, the remains put on display as a warning to others against defying Taliban orders to stop educating girls.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2023831.ece
For Dianne and Andre:
review by William Grimes of a book, "The Story of French", by Nadeau and Barlow. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/books/29grim.html (if this doesn't work, go to www.nytimes.com, then to "arts", then to "books", and look for this review, which appeared Nov. 29.
THE OPENING PARAGRAPH!
"During the 2004 presidential primaries, Senator John Kerry, a fluent French speaker, dropped a remark to an inquiring journalist for French television. Life on the campaign trail, he said, was “affreux” — that is, “awful” or “dreadful.” Not “terrible,” the obvious word, but “affreux,” a more subtle choice. For the French, selecting the precise word is the equivalent of a firm handshake or a level look in the eyes in the United States. With two simple syllables, Senator Kerry had passed a crucial French character test."
The most recent issue of the New Yorker has an article about Spector & habeas corpus that's an interesting read. The bottom line is that it's probably going to take a Supreme Court ruling to undo the mess that Congress passed.
Also in the article is this reference to Karen et al:
"The scene in the hearing room of the Dirksen Senate Office Building anticipated, in a small way, the spirit of rebellion that would animate the electorate seven weeks later. The session began with bipartisan expressions of outrage at the Administration’s (and Graham’s) plan. “It is inexplicable to me how someone can seek to divest the federal courts of jurisdiction on constitutional issues, just inexplicable to me,” Specter said in his introductory remarks. “If the courts are not open to decide constitutional issues, how is constitutionality going to be tested?” Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat, spoke next. “Today we’re addressing the single most consequential provision in this much discussed bill,” he said. “This provision would perpetuate the indefinite detention of hundreds of individuals, against whom the government has brought no charges and presented no evidence and without any recourse to justice whatsoever. That is un-American. This is un-American.” At that moment, a group of protesters wearing T-shirts saying “Shame,” “End Torture,” and “Save Habeas Corpus” rose from their seats and cheered."
(The newstand edition has a drawing of Spector with protesters in orange t-shirts behind him.)
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/061204fa_fact?page=1
Bush: Al-Maliki is 'right guy for Iraq'
President Bush met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki today and insisted the U.S. will stay in Iraq "until the job is complete." The leaders' first session was abruptly cancelled after a White House memo leaked casting doubts about al-Maliki's leadership ability. No tensions were apparent today. "He's the right guy for Iraq," Bush said. "There is no problem," said al-Maliki.
"You're doing a heck-of-a job, Al..."
League of Conservation Voters
http://action.lcv.org/campaign/new_congress
What You Can Do
http://an-inconvenient-truth.com/whatyoucando.html
Green Power Partnership
http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/
Bolivian Senate OKs Sweeping Land Reform
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1129-06.htm
Rule Number One To Avoid Gitmo:
Make sure the "e" in your name doesn't look like an "a"...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_US_CIA_Lawsuit.html
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/rendition.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBZBA-uMreU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_el-Masri
The Decider-In-Cheat is so completely out of touch with reality that it continues to defy rational belief (not to mention continues to make Americans look like ren-&-stimpy eeediots to the rest of the world, ahem)...
----------
Bush acknowledged that pressure and said he wanted to start troop withdrawals as soon as possible. Still, he insisted the U.S. will stay "until the job is complete."
"I know there's a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there's going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq," he said. "This business about a graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all."
The president added: "I'm a realist because I understand how tough it is inside of Iraq."
[Oh, givest thou unto us a break, Shrubya, you don't even understand how tough it is to live inside the United States right now. Although close examination reveals at least one sane statement in there: this business about a graceful exit is indeed unrealistc, because there's not a snowball's chance in Cheneyville of our being able this gawdfersaken mess with anything remotely resembling grace at this point.]
-----------
Bush said al-Maliki "discussed with me his political situation," but he declined to step publicly into delicate internal Iraqi matters.
[Yeah, we'd certainly hate to start doing that now, wouldn't we?]
------------
"I appreciate the prime minister's views that the Iraqis are plenty capable of running their own business and they don't need foreign interference from neighbors that will be destabilizing the country," he said.
[Nope, you betcha. None of that pesky neighbor stuff, it's much better when some meddling superpower from the other side of the planet does it instead.]
-------------
Jeebus Cripes, people, you mean to tell me that now that the wheels have come off and he's got nothing left to lose, this freakin' loose cannon in Washingtoon has still got two whole years left in which to trigger a nukes-up third world war? Oy! Oy vey ist mir!
shrubiana *still* delenda est,
Otter
"Optimism"
"More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another.
A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers, mitochondria, figs--all this resinous, unretractable earth."
~~Jane Hirshfield
posted without permission
"Recalling A Sung Dynasty Landscape"
"Palest wash of stone-rubbed ink
leaves open the moon: unpainted circle,
how does it raise so much light?
Below, the mountains
lose themselves in dreaming
a single, thatch-roofed hut.
Not that the hut lends meaning
to the mountains or the moon--
it is a place to rest the eye after much traveling, is all.
And the heart, unscrolled,
is comforted by such small things:
a cup of green tea rescues us, grows deep and large, a lake."
~~Jane Hirshfield
posted without permission
kj:
The Goddess speaks to us in many ways, and trees and lakes and green tea are the gifts She gives to us in hopes that we will, eventually, figure it out.
and the voice of the hirshfield is heard in the land,
Otter
Oh, yes... and as the picture at the top of this thread and the words of Robert Heinlein's fictional poet Rhysling remind us:
We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth
Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth
blessed be all ye who enter here,
Otter
Otter, thought you might enjoy. :-)
For Otter:
"My paw is holy
herbs are everywhere
my paw
herbs are everywhere
My paw is holy
everything is holy
my paw
everything is holy"
~~James Koller
Earth Prayers: From Around The World
"To live content with small means,
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion,
to be worthy not respectable, and wealthy, not rich,
to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly,
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart,
to bear all cheefully,
do all bravely,
await occasions,
hurry never--
in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony."
~~William Ellery Channing
Earth Prayers: From Around The World
AND to end with one of my all-time favs:
"Song"
"Mine is a proud village, such as it is,
We are at our best when dancing."
~~Makah
In the Trail of the Wind
http://thinkprogress.org/
Administration Lawyer Claims Link Between CO2 and Warming ‘Cannot Unequivocally Be Established’
Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Massachusetts v. EPA. The outcome of the case will “likely determine whether the [Environmental Protection Agency] can regulate [greenhouse gas emissions] from power plants and other industries.
For DiAnne: http://www.peaceplease.com/wreath.html