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Saving Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the Memory Hole
I have always felt a curious natal affinity for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The U.S. destroyed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, 62 years ago. I was born a year after the war on August 8, and became aware early on of how the anniversaries of these bombings bracketed my birthday.
I grew up in Norfolk, VA in the 1950s. The city proclaimed itself the world's largest naval base, and whether it was or wasn't (it was), the presence of the Navy was overwhelming. Where else would it have been considered a romantic way to spend Christmas Eve driving your girlfriend down to the Navy base and riding along the piers with the destroyers, cruisers, battleships, subs, and aircraft carriers all decorated with strings of Christmas lights? (I doubt this quaint custom survived 9/11).
At my elementary school, which was located about 3 miles from the Main Gate of the Naval Base, we learned from Burt the Turtle about how to "Duck and Cover" if the evil Russians should launch a surprise attack on our wonderful Navy base.
I was only 8 or 9, but it was crystal clear that if our city was the world's Navy base, then surely the Russians would put it somewhere close to the top of the list to blow off the face of the earth. Ducking under my desk, or going out in the hall and huddling up on the floor against the wall, seemed pathetically unlikely to save us.
I did have one plan, though. In my backyard was my trusty rowboat, a heavy old wooden thing that had been built for a neighbor down the street who was a manager at Newport News Shipping and Drydock, which built ships for the Navy, among other things. And I had a little 7.5 horsepower motor.
In my post-apocalyptic plans, if I happened to survive the blast, I would hurry home, throw the motor on the boat, and head off away from the ruins of the Naval Base, south into the depths of the Great Dismal Swamp: a very large freshwater swamp that occupies a huge swath of land south of Norfolk down to the North Carolina border. There I would ride out the rest of the war, catching fish and eating the cottonmouth water moccasins I'd seen hanging from trees on previous trips to the swamp with my Dad.
I knew that the effects of nuclear weapons were bad, but like the rest of the American public, I had no idea HOW bad...because the U.S. government had waged an aggressive and highly successful effort for decades to prevent Americans, or anyone else, from ever seeing the films made immediately after the two bombings by Japanese and American photographers, including some in color. These photos contained such horrifying imagery that our government feared that showing them might disrupt the massive build-up of nuclear weaponry and the unending planning for "waging" a nuclear war.
As we struggle every day with an Administration that pulls more and more information about its activities into the black holes of national security and "executive privilege," this nuclear history is a sobering reminder of how effectively the government can use its powers of classification to virtually obliterate sections of the historical record, for decades, making a total and complete mockery of any notion that our citizenry have the information they need in order to make well-informed decisions about whom they elected to office. My god, even our elected representatives themselves do not know what they do not know when they go to vote on building new nuclear weapons, or gutting the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to make kissy-face with India.
There is a wonderful article in Editor and Publisher by Greg Mitchell (subscription is required) about the U.S. government's multi-decade suppression of the films and photographs of destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And on HBO tonight, you can watch a documentary by Steven Okazaki, "White Light/Black Rain," that includes some of the long-suppressed material.
Mitchell provides a detailed chronology of what happened as U.S. military and Japanese film crews began filming in the first weeks after the two bombings. The government's efforts to lock up these materials kept them hidden for decades, until they began slowly dribbling out.
As a life-long admirer of Orwell's thoughts on the political fragility of historical memory, I found Mitchell's article to be one of the best pieces I have read in a long time about how, even when the media are all constantly beating the drum about how we live in "the information age," we continue to live perilously close to Orwell's "memory hole," where information disappears, never to be seen again. (Has anyone seen any of those RNC Blackberry emails that Rove et. al. were sending and receiving at the White House?)
what are the memories you want to hold onto of these current times?
Oh dear. I had not seen Burt the Turtle in over fifty years. I have not missed him.
We owe him such advances as tranquilizers and childhood anxiety disorder, phobias, and massive denial.
I remember ducking and covering whenever a siren blasted. I remember suddenly becoming fearful of lightening.
I also remember the cans of food in the basement, just in case...
And I remember asking my parents why we didn't have a REAL bomb shelter, like our neighbors did.
"Because", they said, "there's no point."
I was intuitive enough to figure out WHY there was no point.
After a few years, I managed to get to a point where I knew that Burt wasn't going to help, the government wasn't going to figure out how to keep us safe either, and we were going to be on our own.
I did not feel better about that until Dr. Strangelove came along and taught me about absurdity:
[after learning of the Doomsday Machine]
President Merkin Muffley: But this is absolute madness, Ambassador! Why should you *build* such a thing?
Ambassador de Sadesky: There were those of us who fought against it, but in the end we could not keep up with the expense involved in the arms race, the space race, and the peace race. At the same time our people grumbled for more nylons and washing machines. Our doomsday scheme cost us just a small fraction of what we had been spending on defense in a single year. The deciding factor was when we learned that your country was working along similar lines, and we were afraid of a doomsday gap.
President Merkin Muffley: This is preposterous. I've never approved of anything like that.
Ambassador de Sadesky: Our source was the New York Times.
****
And so, here we are, in 2007. We have mastered getting through the moment, but the handbasket to hell is ready for boarding.
I think today I am going to duck and cover and do some deep yoga breathing. It's almost 100 degrees in DC and if I pass out, all the better...
The threat of communist menace was always a factor as I grew up in 1980s fascist South Korea.
In 1980, there was an uprising in the southwest of the country, which was brutally put down by the military junta in power - so bloody, it makes Tiananmen Square look like a joke. The government called it a communist uprising, and banned any further discussion of it. Now, as yesterday's "communist" ringleaders have become today's neoliberal government, the truth is out in the open.
Even as I went to school, there were constant sirens and drills in order to prepare against a northern invasion - as if ducking under a desk would help me survive the bombs. Trust me, I didn't feel too safe either.
I was also encouraged to report any suspicious activity - whether it was actual spies, or merely a left-wing activist - to my school teacher or the police. North Korean propaganda leaflets coming south - whether they were real or set-up - reinforced the constant threat.
If the fascists held onto power longer and I had stayed in Korea, I would've been required to participate in military trainings as a teenage student, well before being eligible for draft and mandatory military service.
Fortunately, the fascists lost their grip in 1987, leading Reagan to extend his welcoming arm to my father so that I would become a Young Republican.
And by the way, photos of North Koreans, such as Kim Il-Sung, were banned during those days - those photos would make them look too human and sympathetic.
And the global community was sympathetic to the fascists. Even in the shadow of the 1980 massacre, the fascists were awarded the 1988 Summer Olympics in 1981.
what are the memories you want to hold onto of these current times?
Posted by dickbell at August 7, 2007 12:04 PM
The memories I WANT to hold onto are the ones of a small band of wonderful people doing everything they can to undo what has been/continues to be done to this nation; but what I WILL remember most is how easily the people were duped, how easily the masses followed, how disinterested and uninvolved the public is in the national debate, how little Congress did to stop it, and how DEEP in denial this country is as to how to end the misery *that they created in the first place*...
Tanks for the Memories
Bob Hoped
CENSURING BUSH BY SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPS.:
(symbolic but it is better than nothing at all - perhaps laying the groundwork for impeachment)
Feingold Introduces Resolutions Censuring Bush, Others
By Frederic J. Frommer
The Associated Press
Monday 06 August 2007
Washington - Sen. Russ Feingold has introduced resolutions that would censure President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for what Feingold calls the Bush administration's misleading the nation into war, and undermining the rule of law.
In the House, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., introduced companion resolutions.
"Congress cannot stay silent when the American people are demanding that this administration be held accountable for its blatant misconduct regarding Iraq and its attack on the rule of law," Feingold, D-Wis., said in a statement Monday.
"From misleading this country into invading Iraq to establishing a warrantless domestic spy program, this White House has continuously misled and deceived the American people while disregarding the rule of law that guides our democracy," Hinchey said in a statement Monday,
Feingold announced last month that he would introduce the two resolutions.
One would censure Bush and Cheney for what it calls misleading the country about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's regime, and inadequate planning for military action in Iraq, among other things.
The other would censure Bush and Gonzales for the warrantless surveillance program against suspected terrorists, and what the resolution calls misleading Congress about the firings of U.S. attorneys, among other things.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080707K.shtml
We have two options:
1) bring the blogs to the people by getting them online.
2) bring the blogs to the people via more traditional media - TV, radio, newspaper, direct mail etc..
Posted by: Ralpheh at August 7, 2007 10:51 AM
Ralph, actually if you look at that, currently, realisticly, we only have one option.
Get as many online, as fast as we can.
Ally,
I agree not all ghettos are ethnic, nor do all ghettos, ethnic or otherwise always behave in a particular fasion. But that is the whole point.
This is it exactly. "Our goal is to interconnect all these ghettos with common themes that matter to everyone, and build a better country."
EXACTLY!
Online, as long as you can get here, all opinions are pretty much suddenly equal. It is that very equality that threatens to topple the power structure as it is.
Our problem is not that your blood don't look like my blood, nor is the problem that we all have our own opinion of it.
The problem is those in the ghettos, those that will throw off tyranny and oppression are NOT HERE.
Where thier voices should be there is only....silence.
These are the people we want to save, these are the people We desperately need to rise up and meet their destiny. A place where all men are equal.
And the WOMEN!!! OHHH LALA!
A whole army is waiting in the wings, unsure how to fight and unsure where the battle front is. A HUGE ARMY who understand very well the failures of our government.
And they most certainly DO understand.
The fight is RIGHT HERE. WE are the front lines in a battle of the Ages.
It is time to invite the people with the most at stake to join the battle.
Most of our soldiers are from the ghettos.
It is them that must be saved first.
Get as many online as you can, as fast as possible.
A critical mass of democracy will change everything.
Everything.
what are the memories you want to hold onto of these current times?
Posted by dickbell at August 7, 2007 12:04 PM
The memories that I would like to hold onto, is to see America wake up, recoil in horror, that they set in motion, this illegal war and occupation that has killed, wounded, so many innocent Iraqis and American Sons and Daughters, not to mention the Coalitions dead and wounded, when they allowed the Supreme Court to put Georgie into the White House, when they knew that he had not won the election, The Highest Court in the Land stole an election. Justice in America went down the tubes.
Because they were not interested to know that Gore won the 2000 election and fight for it, instead it was published in the middle pages of the so called media, a year or two later.
And Dianne and everyone, I know how much you all respected and counted on John Kerry, but you know I followed him from the day he was nominated, was there when he was nominated, for the debates that he won hands down,the both Conventions, that Kerry again won hands down,I was there for the full ride, and I will never understand or forget how he got so much money, from such a diversity of people from all over that nation even on his own site, for Lawyers to fight the corruption of another stolen election, the first in Florida and the second in Ohio, Then blew those same people aways within a couple of hours of the election.
It still does not sit well with me nearly three years later, I, like so many of your own citizens will not forget that election night ever, the night corruption won again, over the vote of the people. Do you vote, will you vote be counted.
I have travelled your Country twice on extended trips and had a wonderfull time with my family, but at this time I would not feel comfortable in myself, to even visit Christy, not that I would probably get into America at this time, Georgie would probably lock me up in Gauntanamo.
The memories I would dearly like to hold, is to see Georgie and his corrupt gang of thugs, in the Hague, charged with the war crimes that they have committed with impunity on the Sovereign Nation of Iraq, not to forget the war crimes in Afganistan as well, I would like to see them committed for life, put into dungeons and tortured, like they have done with their renditions. Not likely to happen but that is the memory that I would hold dear.
Now Kevvie, my cousin, you can say as many Hail Marys as you like for me, Because I dont forgive or forget two stolen elections, that have caused so much devastation on the world or the church for their crimes against their citizens. I am like an elephant, I never forget.
I might be nieve, but I want to see justice served. In the Land of Liberty
Richard,
Those are terrible events to remember around your birthday. It makes it seem rather hopeless in all. (I'd rather have the memories around my birthday--All Saint's Day and of course the devilish celebrations the night before.)
Given what I remember vs what I dream...
Well, in terms of current events what I remember and what I know makes things seem rather hopeless. What I dream seems too impossible anyway.
It seems to me as we keep sinking deeper and deeper into fascism, the more anger and fighting there is.
So monkey's thoughts seem to be pretty close to mine.
Scary...we almost believed the salesman and bought into this insurance.
http://dailykos.com/story/2007/8/7/74626/10534
It's easy for soldiers to score heroin in Afghanistan
Simultaneously stressed and bored, U.S. soldiers are turning to the widely available drug for a quick escape.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/07/afghan_heroin/
The Fear of Fear Itself
The editors of The New York Times write: "It was appalling to watch over the last few days as Congress - now led by Democrats - caved in to yet another unnecessary and dangerous expansion of President Bush's powers, this time to spy on Americans in violation of basic constitutional rights. Many of the 16 Democrats in the Senate and 41 in the House who voted for the bill said that they had acted in the name of national security, but the only security at play was their job security."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080707E.shtml
They have the audacity to be appalled to watch the last few days that so many Dems gave Georgie his criminal wiretapping laws, maybe if their editors had been investigating 4 years ago, thier fear of fear itself, instead of propogating Georgies propaganda and all out lies, they would now have an audience. Typical hypocracy of the Media in the US.
Ralph, actually if you look at that, currently, realisticly, we only have one option.
Get as many online, as fast as we can.
@@@@@@@
I don't think enough people - for the next 10 to 15 years any way - use the internet regularly or would use it even if it was given to them free. They use the older forms of communication.
Here is the sure fire way to get someone elected (Republican or Democrat)
1) come up with the Candidate who is reasonably good-looking (Michigan's governor is a case in point - she is an attractive woman but she is also a lawyer)
2) Send out constant mailers (in color) either attacking the opponent or showing the candidate in a very positive light
3) Take out ads in the newspaper/ shopper
4) Have a constant series of letters to the editor in support of your candidate - gets the name out there and name ID
5) Run some local radio ads (run TV ads if you have the money)
6) Make robo-calls to voting households
This formula has worked locally for several mediocre Dem. Candidates and worked.
August 06 -- Will FISA Vote hurt Dems?
Progressive political blogs are abuzz with the fallout from the vote expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to permit warrantless wiretapping on American citizens. You can read about it all over the pro-democratic blogosphere. But Glenn Greenwald has the most persuasive argument that Dems who voted against the FISA expansion need fear no political repercussions. As Greenwald explains in his Salon post "Attention Democrats: GOP fear-mongering does not work":
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/strategist/2007/08/do_dems_fisa_fears_serve_gop.php
Ralph, no offense, but that would be an excellent plan if you were trying to reach out to my grandparents.
Go to VoTechs (or any college campus) around the nation and try giving away free internet for a year, and I bet you will run out of internet before you do takers.
Go to the libraries and offer patrons the same.
Don't go for the older, less populated generations, no offense but they are not the logical target anyway. We need a twenty year solution not a 5 year one.
Besides, the younger generations are defecting to the dem side 3 to 1 and have a natural resentment for georgie. It is not hard to figure out whos ranks will swell with their presence online.
The whole point, as Rossi says, is to make them wake up. To leave behind 5 more for everyone one of us that quits the fight or dies.
It is about culling and mobilizing a whole new generation of patriots. The ones coming after us will face very difficult choices and we have to make sure they are engaged NOW, so 20 years from now they will never forget how they were called upon to change the world.
The traditional MSM has turned against you in every way, and it has grown so expensive only a limited amount of info can be placed. And once placed it is quickly forgotten. Or hidden.
Again, that leaves us with the only real option that could work. Critical mass. Simply get as many people here as possible and somehow some way a leader with a way forward will emerge from among them.
As many people as possible, from EVERY corner of our nation.
Embrace the ghettos, the poor, the sick, the oppressed, and you will be blessed. I think someone told me that once.
Get them here, the more that come, the stronger we all are.
They can take away our free press, corrupt it and even turn it on us. They will try it with the net too. We have to make sure there is so many of us they do nat dare do it again.
Remember the leasson of the twigs. The bigger the bundle, the less pliable.
Just because we were talking about Kos, let's use them as a hypothetical.
Let's say Kos asked for money for a new grant program they were funding, full sposorship.
What if they asked 'Do you need a year of free internet?' You can make whatever qualifications for students, military, and single mothers, low income, whatever..
Call 180000000 whatever.
They call, they get an internet connect free, sponsored by, Daily Kos. No strings attached.
"While you are here do you need help getting a computer?"
Whatever. Welcome to the Revolution.
What nice people those Kos must be, let me check them out and tell my friends how they helped me.
Democrat, repellican, indie, it don't matter, just freaking get here and form the line.
In the hood, the internet is almost mythological. Everyone knows its power, none of them know how to conjure it, nor can barely afford to. Gas is expensive and so is food. It is considered a luxury item for people who have nothing, and the powers that be can not exist without keeping it that way.
By the way, Dick,
Happy Birthday (tomorrow)!!!
Posted by: Carol at August 7, 2007 08:41 PM
Yeh...what she said!
Happy Birthday, Richard!
You know, I have to admit, sitting down here watching Louisiana, the whole idea of a 'clash of civilizations' scared me. The thought of cultures 'colliding', from this viewpoint always un-nerved me.
In a racial aspect it is a dead serious situation. As you can imagine.
But watching our...evolution, as a species, these last 15 years, I have realized that it is inevitable these collisions will take place, but something wonderful happened on the way here.
We gained a power so potent anyone at any time can speak in real time to anyone else anywhere else in the world. Even view their faces from remote locations.
That is an incredible power, and it not only presents us with a solution to our suicidal evolution it gives us the ability to evolve past the instint entirely.
That power has within it the ability to control the collision in a way never before imagined.
We can not shoot each other online. Nor can we shake or pummel or even shut each other up.
It is a place where that clash can play out safely to little ill effect. We can force the confrontation here, and let good people everywhere take over.
We are all mostly equal online, there has never been a place like that before, and there is enough room for everybody.
But that very equality, as I said, threatens the power structure now in place. A critical mass of people will topple it entirely.
You can not break through the MSM.
You have to go around them to evolve.
Happy Birthday Dick!
Why Obama will win reason # 102
Obama shot back: "I find it amusing that those who voted to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070807/afl-cio-democrats/
I already said it on Facebook, but will say it again.
Happy birthday Dick! :)
Posted by: Christy at August 7, 2007 09:20 PM
Christy,
The fact is that Obama was not one of the 13 who voted to bring the troops home last spring when the Kerry-Feingold-Boxer bill was put forth. As such, it makes the whole IWR thing that he says irrelevent.
The troops could have been home by now if Obama and more people had had courage to buck the Republican spin machine back then and voted for it.
However that said, I still have not decided on any candidate yet. Frankly, when I watched them on the stage the only ones who stood out were Gravel and Kucinich, and neither of those two are front-runners.
Also, Obama was against the filibuster before he was for it. And those words may have cost us the Alito filibuster in general. That was a big mistake in my book.
That said... I am not sure I trust Hillary despite her performance at y-kos. I'm not against Edwards or Obama in a general sense; I am still in the watching them stage. As far as Edwards is concerned it's easy for him to say anything because he doesn't have to worry about a voting record.
But I'm clearly concerned that what Gravel said was right: "They'll promise you anything but they won't do it when they win."
As far as Edwards is concerned it's easy for him to say anything because he doesn't have to worry about a voting record.
Posted by: sparrow at August 7, 2007 09:57 PM
I think that he would have fought for the 2004 election, though sparrow, and that is in his favour for me.
And if Elizabeth survives her cancer she will certainly keep him on the straight and narrow for the people, I think, she is a strong women, a thinker, she has a lot of respect I think from a lot of the people, sadly I would suppose it is not that many, when you think that there are 300 million citizens in the USA, and only 40% feel the need to vote for the highest position in the land.
A president needs a stong women beside him, one who thinks of the people, not one like the friking looney tune that resides in the White House at the moment
That is a great piece, Dick!
When I was a kid, I never trusted adults from the time I learned about the concentration camps and Hiroshima. I didn't pay much attention to the "sides," just the idea of civilian life being nipped in the bud. I saw the film reels, I saw the photos. It made an indelible image probably stronger than that of the wars, assassinations and terror attacks since.
Every Hiroshima Day I go to Green Lake to the Hiroshima Remembrance and put out lanterns for my dad, who was in WW2 (Pacific theater). I have someone write a message in Kanji and put in a candle and along with thousands of others, they float out onto the lake all night. Usually there are taiko drums, gospel choir, children from Palestine/Israel together, Physicians for Social Responsibility, peace activists. It's very powerful.
Tonight we went to a neighorhood block watch party too and it was good to feel a universal feeling of antiwar sentiment, no exceptions, among regular people - teachers, therapists, parents, neighbors. I don't know them well as I commute to out of town and it's not even really our block (we crashed it once and have gotten invited ever since). I know their political leanings from conversations and I've also canvassed five different districts around here. I know where the few exceptions live. (There motto is "You're not alone")
Happy Birthday Richard, my almost-birthday twin!!!
Leos Rule!
Sparrow
I'm reading bottom to top again but only got as far as yours and have to say that I appeciated what Mike Gravel said!
I said something earlier today to Karen about taking "it all" (what candidates say and alot of other things) "with a grain of salt."
I was looking at YearlyKos site and they'd quoted a blogger from SF who had actually gone to the Mike Gravel breakout session. He had everyone gather around him in a circle and he taught them about the Constitution!
She said it was the most memorable moment besides Markos showing up to AC/DC in the 18-wheeler with Jimmy Hoffa!
Also Faux News, Cable News, and the Media don't want him, so that gives him a big plus
OK I read it all!
Fallout shelter -
We had one and my dad was paranoid and hallucinating (which started from the war). It was in the basement of the reform school where he taught music, which was a state building. His mental health got so bad that he had to go to the VA way across that state and have electroshock treatments. It was partly his clinical paranoia that made me afraid and partly writing term papers on things like "radioactive fallout," using pamphlets that I found at the post office & court house. I too was scared of thunder and sonic booms, worried about crazy leaders with their fingers on "the button." I also assumed the Leaders of the Soviet Union and United States were both insane.
I pictured bombs pointing at each other's cities and how we could be reduced to rubble and radiation sickness. In 6th grade, I was to bring a newspaper clipping to school. I brought one that said "Cuban Missile Crisis First Act of World War Three" (approximate) - it had same-size photos of Kennedy, Kruschev and Castro.
Terrorism has never scared me nearly so much as the threat of nuclear annihilation and I didn't find Communism scary at all. I was told that kids were told to spy on people, even their parents. I just assumed that they were being told lies about us and we were being told lies about them. I was also doubting the idea that "God is on our side" could ever be a factual statement. From the time I learned about different religions and that there had been religious wars, it was obvious to me that some among them would think they had a monopoly on Truth, so how could any of them prove it?
This time of year is always a reminder.
INTERNET -
I think Christy is right. The internet should be accessible to all. Cell phones are now used all over the world and cross social classes. The technology for internet needs to start to overlap more with telecommunications in general (which is happening) and be made cheaper and more user-friendly. There should be free WiFi universally, with free areas for usage, like all libraries and community centers. These should be government funded. Why not?! (We know why not!!)
Firewalls need to come down. It needs to be a peoples' technology. China is a bad example of government control of the internet. Piracy is widespread and I doubt they can stop hackers and ways around the censorship. IndyMedia is international (and servers have been seized before). The medium is the message, as McLuhan said, and he predicted the "global village" without even living to see the exact technology. The size of the globe has literally been reduced.
Get the technology to all classes in this country and all areas. Connect the planet. Of course, fat chance now that the 4th amendment is gone..but we know what we need.
I was amazed when I saw Daft Punk the other night and saw literally the same concert that those in Sao Paolo and Istanbul saw within a very short time span. & there were literally hundreds of cell phone cameras filming at once, instead of the old school cigarette lighters! At first I couldn't figure out what the little blue lights all were. Same thing at the Stones but moreso here, as it was a younger demographic.
Apple just came out with new systems and you get far more for your money with each generation. People upgrading could even donate their older working systems. I have a couple of computers that work fine that I could donate to a community center or something. I am truly going to look into this. Apple is also a progressive company that I like to endorse (the reverse of a boycott), since Al Gore is on the board and at YearlyKos I would estimate that I say probably 90% Mac laptops. Alot of stuff there was on new media.
YouTube, networks like FaceBook and MySpace, shows like Jon Stewart's and Colbert's (which are seen lots on computer screens and emailed around via links, not just on tv) have been changing the political scene quickly, for young people. Middle-aged people like me have learned step by step, not as tech-savvy or daring or multitasking as the Millennial generation is by nature - yet in increments we have increased our confidence. Many of us are tutored by our kids when we get stuck!
I am always somewhat hopeful. & it thrills me when people come up with ideas. They are not crazy ideas if they are remotely possible. The idea of "internet in the ghetto" is a good one.
Amazing it was on FaceBook that Giuliani's daughter revealed that she would support Obama rather than her dad. & this was picked up by MSM, manipulatively.
I joined FaceBook thanks to Karen's suggestion and was contacted by a guy who sells wine here locally (he was an acquaintance) and have already been invited to a party & wine tasting!
It's not just for young people! We have to find ways to make it all more political though. There is some of that (I have also been exposed some to MySpace, which is unfortunately Murdoch owned, and a very mixed bag) but could be much more organized.
Remember "flash mobs," which were popular in Europe a few years ago? I remember witnessing them in Paris. There didn't have to be a reason and usually there wasn't. It was more like the "happenings" in the '60s. People would text-message others en masse and this would spread virally and people would show up in a given place. It was interesting.
Same technique could be and has been used to help get people to protest rallies and certainly to locate people. Noticed text messaging was used at YearlyKos for people to express themselves and then projected on a wall like graffiti. YouTube was used recently to get questions to the candidates. I've had people in other countries send me links to videos of political satire, etc. relevant to our own country.
& it's the internet that allows us to have dialogue with our Aussies and occasional other foreigners on this (& other) blogs. I was helped immensely by Guardian "Talk" starting 9/11/01 and talking with English speakers from other places. I was very disappointed when they stopped it and very pleased (by coincidence) to see today that they have it going again! I am headed there! I was more "in sync" with it than just about any thing else I ever found.
We haven't even scratched the surface. We also have to do something about getting the 4th amendment back, and habeus corpus. We have been robbed and don't even know why.
Isn't this creepy?!
Provision in Wiretap Bill Extends Surveillance to End of '08
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080707J.shtml
Katherine Shrader reports for The Associated Press that, thanks to a little-noticed provision of the FISA bill, the Bush administration's new eavesdropping power may last longer than six months. While the law expires in February unless Congress
acts to extend it, any surveillance orders that are in place when it sunsets can last up to a full year, for the rest of Bush's tenure.
Check this out:
Iranian Rave Busted
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2142458,00.html
Magic Mushrooms Face Ban in Netherlands
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Netherlands_Magic_Mushrooms.html
Just strange
Apple is also a progressive company that I like to endorse (the reverse of a boycott), since Al Gore is on the board and at YearlyKos I would estimate that I say probably 90% Mac laptops. Alot of stuff there was on new media.
Posted by: not my president at August 7, 2007 11:26 PM
I love Macs. This from a former Windows junkie! On iMac right now, and I will buy a MacBook when my current HP laptop goes obsolete.
The newest Macs' ability to natively run Windows, and enable me to continue using my Windows applications, sealed the deal for me. MacOS when I need the stability, Windows when I need the compatibility - the best of both worlds.
Steve Jobs, the founder, is himself left-leaning, and that explains a lot of Apple's political alliances. On another note, Wikipedia says notable right-wingers, such as Rush Limbaugh and W, are avid Mac users too.
As for recycling old systems, just about all major manufacturers now have a deal for new purchasers - even reactionary Dell.
Posted by: not my president at August 7, 2007 11:36 PM
I will say this again: liberals, especially white natural-born American liberals, must listen to those who have survived foreign fascism, and learn from their experiences, instead of shutting them up for shattering idyllic preconceptions about the Third World.
Of course, we are familiar with the horrors of Nazism and Italian fascism. But few ever take an interest in, say, pre-Communist Cuba, 1970s South Korea, or today's China, all of whom have a lot of parallels to W's fascism.
Ally
You have to keep warning people.
Expect a lot of whining from the Korean-American fascists, who prefer W's war games, over this. The two Koreas will talk again later this month.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6936158.stm
Posted by: not my president at August 8, 2007 12:08 AM
I can only do so much, when warning people gets me banned from DU, and troll-rated on DKos.
Sorry!
Democracy Now, on warrantless wiretapping
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x45931
Ally
The person who sent me that has been banned from DU and DKos both. The now lurks on both. I have seen the comments that got her banned and it was ridiculous.
I am heading back to Guardian "Talk"
Ally
Wouldn't it be something if Iran & Iraq and North & South Korea would settle their own differences? It if didn't serve "our interests" in those areas, it would ruin the party.
Posted by: not my president at August 8, 2007 12:15 AM
It's amazing just how narrow-minded and hateful some progressives can be.
Just like conservatives.
Here is Guardian "Talk"
http://politicstalk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee80025
Here is one of the better Editorials on FISA
Surveillance Without Limits
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/08Aug2007_news19.php
Posted by: not my president at August 8, 2007 12:16 AM
South Korea is a major buyer of our weapons. And some are so grateful to the US for its role in the Korean War, that they prefer buying American weapons (i.e. F-15 and F-16), even when other countries' weapons (i.e. French Mirage fighter planes) fit the Koreans' specifications better. (And they buy obsolete Ford Tauruses for their highway patrol... and bought French bullet trains ONLY because the US couldn't provide them.)
Our military-industrial complex would HATE to lose a customer like this, through a peace treaty on the Korean peninsula.
And honestly, a peace treaty is what Roh must take as his bargaining chip - in exchange for all the aid he's giving away to the North.
Chinese Officials Threaten Dollar-Crashing Sell-Off Of US Money »
Telegraph | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | August 7, 2007 10:52 PM
Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.
Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/08/07/bcnchina107a.xml
Here is one of the better Editorials on FISA
Surveillance Without Limits
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/08Aug2007_news19.php
Posted by: not my president at August 8, 2007 12:19 AM
I'll put it on my own blog. Thanks!
Hey, I asked a congressman arguing against impeachment, what other parts of the Constitution he was going to take off the table....and I guess that was enough to get me banned from Huffington post.
Banned AND censored.
BTW, anyone else but Rossi notice the Chinese are about to destroy Us without firing a shot?
Oh well, I guess we knew it had to happen eventually. It is not like we can just pay them back.
Thanks to georgie.
Christy
Yes I noticed - everything we're holding is in dollars! As it goes down in value, it's better for our products (such as Boeing Airplanes) but terrible for travel. The Chinese have been lending us money to buy their products and we've been buying them. They back alot of our mortgages and there are alot of foreclosures already, because people who are bad credit risks were given mortgages and because people were sold packages of expandable debt (ARMs etc). We never could strike the balance between free and fair trade, between globalization and protectionism. & then we had to run up a war debt, which only rewards those heavily invested in the military-industrial complex.