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Contingencies
As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
William O. Douglas
[The above was the opening of FEAR UP: Stories from Baghdad and Guanatanamo.]
When George Bush was elected in 2000, who among us would have said that seven years hence that we would be looking at the loss of civil liberties and a terrible war? Who would have predicted that the Congress would have given him the same power Adolf Hitler had: to round up "enemy combatants", as defined by him?
So often, people say "Well, I knew." But, of course no one did. All we can do is look at historical patterns and project ahead based on past experiences.
My friend Linda and I have played a kind of game over the past year: What year are we in? Is it 1932? 1933? The other night we decided it is 1935, the year the Nuremberg Laws were passed. Perhaps this is hyperbole, but how will we know, except when we look back?
This led to a discussion about whether or people in 1935 understood that 1936 was coming. The Berlin Olympics' focus on Hitler and German glory may have been hoped for, but did anyone understand what the price of German glory might be? They could not have predicted Kristallnacht, in 1938, surely.
We find ourselves repeating the phrase, "They didn't know 1936 was coming" a lot. It is the only way to explain the drip-drip-drip of sadness at each tiny loss.
Elise Alper reads Riverbend, 2005.
Back in 2005 when we compiled FEAR UP, we thought of it as a truth-telling, hard-hitting array of stories. When we re wrote it in 2006, we found we had to update it, because the original stories we found so horrific had been replaced by Abu Ghraib and the rape of the young girl, Abeer.
And now, we would have to add the story of Riverbend's leaving Iraq:
As we crossed the border and saw the last of the Iraqi flags, the tears began again. The car was silent except for the prattling of the driver, who was telling us stories of escapades he had while crossing the border. I sneaked a look at my mother sitting beside me and her tears were flowing as well. There was simply nothing to say as we left Iraq. I wanted to sob, but I didn't want to seem like a baby. I didn't want the driver to think I was ungrateful for the chance to leave what had become a hellish place over the last four and a half years.
The Syrian border was almost equally packed, but the environment was more relaxed. People were getting out of their cars and stretching. Some of them recognized each other and waved or shared woeful stories or comments through the windows of the cars. Most importantly, we were all equal. Sunnis and Shias, Arabs and Kurds -- we were all equal in front of the Syrian border personnel.
Was there ever a point at which that heart-breaking moment could have been predicted, and/or prevented?
It is 2007, and we do not seem to know that 2008 is coming, just as we did not know that 2007 was coming in 2006.
Contingencies: In colloquial English, a contingency is something that can happen, but that generally is not anticipated. Planning for contingencies often requires a more imaginative approach, because contingencies are inherently not obvious. Large organizations, such as governments, are often criticized for not planning for contingencies because the construction of plans to deal with contingencies often involves thinking outside the box. Beforehand, contingencies are hard to predict; this failure to appreciate contingencies ahead of time has led to the formulation of Murphy's law. (Murphy's Law: things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance.)
And so, here at the end of September 2007, we have twilight, and we have historical pattern, and we have heartbreaking disasters, and what do we do?
Please, please think outside the box and put thoughts below.
Karen,
Great thead header as usual! But I've sat here 5 minutes trying to think of a response to it.
And the only thing I can come up with is that the increments towards this began with Bill Clinton's refusal to ban media consolidation and with the purchase of the media by corporations.
And I think Dan Rather's lawsuit will do a lot to illuminate that fact to people who haven't been online since 2004 to know how they were manipulated.
Thinking outside the box...well, I'd love to see a whole class action lawsuit against each of those medias who carried water without question for the last 7 years. They failed us. They cost lives. Maybe that is our next step. Seems like when they lose $$ due to their media ownership is when they will decide to jump ship on media ownership as a means of increasing corporation profits.
On topic of media corps leading us to disaster...
The Scoop on CBS: Why Redstone Sold Dan Rather for 20 Pieces of Silver
http://tinyurl.com/yu9h23 == DU
You also have to add to that the 2000 election where so much fraud and suppression happened that the media didn't report on! Instead they salivated at the 'close election' when they should have been reporting on the criminal activities done to prevent a fair election.
So... add that to the list. And then of course you've got the machines who did what the suppression couldn't.
And this from FDL-- Eli delved more deeply into Rather's suit against CBS and Viacom.
http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/09/21/the-rather-lather/
CBS News President Andrew Heyward and Senior Vice President Betsy West were involved intimately in the editing and vetting process of the Abu Ghraib story. However, for weeks, they refused to grant permission to air the story, continuously insisting that it lacked sufficient substantiation. As Mr. Rather and Ms. Mapes provided each requested verification, Mr. Heyward and Ms. West continued to “raise the goalposts,” insisting on additional substantiation.
Even after obtaining a dozen, now notorious photos, which made it impossible to deny the accuracy of the story, Mr. Heyward and Ms. West continued to delay the story for an additional three weeks. ...
more at the link
Oh...so that's my point. Given all the information that comes out with a class action lawsuit and the fact that to settle would cost money...maybe it's worth the effort to do it.
Passing the hot potato to you now...!
Disclaimer: I've been one of those appparently hard-to-come-by government contingency planners.
Being a contingency planner is like trying to become a chess grandmaster: you have to think several moves in the future, and consider all the possible permutations & combinations of moves, and not so much be ready to react to those possibilities, having plans in place...it becomes more of a strategy of controlling the possibilities by arranging the board in your favor. It's a lot easier that way, of course: instead of guessing at an opponent's possible moves, you're controlling their possible moves, limiting their options so you know which moves they'll have to take. (Somewhere I've got a thread header kicking around on this topic...)
So how do you control the board? You study your opponent (whether another country or other, more intangible, opponents - natural disasters, terrorist attacks) exhaustively. You study the history, you talk to those who have dealt with your opponent, you run exercises or war games to play out the possibilities in a controlled environment and practice your responses. You stay ahead of the public relations game. And most importantly, you act as though you've already controlled the situation, as though you've already won. It's kind of like a multi-variable math equation where you substitute an arbitrary value for one variable in order to solve for the others.
I have been reading de Toqueville, and the Federalist papers (Hamilton, Madison, Jay), and helping a colleague with an early American history class, and it is fascinating, the debate over the balance of power in our government. The Federalists couldn't conceive of an American government in which state power would be emasculated by federal government. Their America was too individualized and separated, dependent on groups and associations at a local level...the country was too "diverse" in a way for the federal government to ever hope to corral all the unique bits and pieces. De Toqueville, a few decades later, saw the possibilities of vastly increased federal power stemming from a homogenized culture in which mass marketing, mass transportation, and mass media had leveled the differences between Americans, making them that much easier to federally govern. The early Federalists, despite their title, were also very limited-government men, and I think would be astounded at the vast growth of the federal government. They, and de Toqueville as well, saw local associations as the key to American self-"government" - that Americans were dependent on each other, not a gray governmental authority, for the collaborative aspects of their lives - business, education, public safety, caring for the poor and elderly, etc. Even public defense was seen as state/local militia-based rather than nationalized standing armies. It is impressive, also, with what deep consideration the elements of the Constitution were deliberated. Possibilities were calculated and debated at length. A framework to "grow into" was hammered out. Now, instead, we have a backward-looking, bloated government that is too busy patching holes to frame a flexible framework to govern an America of the 21st century.
A bit of a rambling post, I apologize...but I suppose my point being that the makeup of our country has changed so dramatically in the past 250 years that we need to take a contingency-planner viewpoint (as did the Framers) and restructure our federal government to meet and control the challenges of the next 200 years rather than react haphazardly to the leaks springing from the past decades.
"And so, here at the end of September 2007, we have twilight, and we have historical pattern, and we have heartbreaking disasters, and what do we do?"
Switch . Targets.
I am going to start screaming it soon. Not because I particularly like screaming, but because the panic is setting in.
"They, and de Toqueville as well, saw local associations as the key to American self-"government" - that Americans were dependent on each other, not a gray governmental authority, for the collaborative aspects of their lives - business, education, public safety, caring for the poor and elderly, etc. Even public defense was seen as state/local militia-based rather than nationalized standing armies."
Posted by: V at September 22, 2007 10:55 AM
Sounds like they would approve democracy cells!
And V, great to see you; are you nearby yet?
BREAKING NEWS:
A knock at our front door, and a signature and:
LOOK WHAT CHRISTY DID!!
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r82/kkbradleydc/ChristyGandhi002.jpg
We are searching fro just the right place to place it: a place where the peace activists can take comfort from it, and be inspired.
It brought tears to our eyes, sweet fierce Christy.
We are full of gratitude for you and all here who care so deeply about this country and world.
And the orange is PERFECT. Last year, when we did the movement choir on the Mall on Sept. 11 (the 100th anniversary of Gandhi's Nonviolence Movement), we used saffron and white fabric. So this connects me to that powerful day as well.
When I showed it to Richard, by the way, he gasped.
Thanks to Christian too: we expect great and peaceful acts from you, young man!
ALL OUR LOVE!
OH--and on the portrait: I think he looks just slightly.......................
amused!
Posted by: karen at September 22, 2007 11:12 AM
He does. Maybe he is thinking of all the planning that happens in your livingroom. Or thinking of all the peace activists who were camped in your house, your backyard, your front yard, your basement, your kids' rooms. And he's picturing everyone stepping over the bodies.
Christy,
The portrait is beautiful as I knew it would be!!!
What a tremendous gift!
V,
The initial portion of your post reminds me of a sporting match like football or basketball. And it reminds me of a conversation with Oncall long ago where he compared it to sports.
But it also reminds me in an unusual way of some of the conversations my hubby has had about fencing. Fencing is like physical chess. You plan ahead. You plan offence and defence. And you sometimes 'milk' a certain device until your opponent finally learns how to stop responding in their usual pattern and can find a way that stops you but then gives them the point.
In this way, I sometimes think this what the Democrats are continually not doing right. And it's what moveon 'understood' while the politicians still fall all over themselves following the same patterns that keep letting their opponent score.
It's why I posted Mike Stark's links to notoneredcentmore (etc). It's because that shows an awareness in how we can parry and repost and go on the attack our self. Before, we were reliant on them, and they thought we would always just be there because we had to be. But with each new change and some fancy footwork, we can start playing more offence and less reactionary actions.
I am not sure if I originally approved of the "Betrayus" add, though I felt the way the democrats reacted was wrong. And I'm not thrilled with the new add, BUT I noticed that Moveon took their words, used them and explained the original source right in the same ad. So I think that shows both offense and defence and that may change the playing field. And I think it shows the thinking on their feet as they plan ahead and respond to current circumstances.
Anyways...that's enough of my blathering in response!
Welcome back!!!
V--
Regarding the second half of your commentary. I agree with you. We can not just patch up the leaks. We need to plan ahead. Not from a "Democratic" viewpoint but from a logical viewpoint that recognises the role media plays, the role corporations, lobbies, and ethics plays, but also the role that states and federal policies have.
For example... Under a universal health care insurance, it's crazy that we have a corporate system that does not allow us to move from state to state without losing our insurance. And yet many states are attempting to patch up the system by providing some sort of mechanism within their state. However, if I were to move there, I would have no insurance until I've lived there at least 12 months. Yet we are a "UNITED" states and we are a mobile group of people! (And we are faced with the situation of having to move to where the jobs are.)
So a universal health care insurance MUST by it's very nature be a 50-state policy!!
But we have to carry that same idea within every program we have. How does security in CA affect people in Iowa? One word: Imports. If we have no inspection of goods within one state, the end result is contamination and possible death in another.
It's a 50 state policy.
And that's my two cents.
BREAKING NEWS:
A knock at our front door, and a signature and:
LOOK WHAT CHRISTY DID!!
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r82/kkbradleydc/ChristyGandhi002.jpg
We are searching fro just the right place to place it: a place where the peace activists can take comfort from it, and be inspired.
It brought tears to our eyes, sweet fierce Christy.
We are full of gratitude for you and all here who care so deeply about this country and world.
And the orange is PERFECT. Last year, when we did the movement choir on the Mall on Sept. 11 (the 100th anniversary of Gandhi's Nonviolence Movement), we used saffron and white fabric. So this connects me to that powerful day as well.
When I showed it to Richard, by the way, he gasped.
Thanks to Christian too: we expect great and peaceful acts from you, young man!
ALL OUR LOVE!
Posted by: karen at September 22, 2007 11:10 AM
Oh Christy, that is just brilliant. And here, I waited up so that I'd know what the new thread was going to bring. And this was a surprise. Beautiful Christy.
And now. Goodnight.
Oh. Before I go, Christy. I was trying hard to think of a quote from Gandhi for Christian. This was it ........
"Freedom is not worth having, if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes." Ghandi
WASHINGTON - President Bush again called Democrats "irresponsible" on Saturday for pushing an expansion he opposes to a children's health insurance program.
"Democrats in Congress have decided to pass a bill they know will be vetoed," Bush said of the measure that draws significant bipartisan support, repeating in his weekly radio address an accusation he made earlier in the week. "Members of Congress are risking health coverage for poor children purely to make a political point."
In the Democrat's response, also broadcast Saturday, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell turned the tables on the president, saying that if Bush doesn't sign the bill, 15 states will have no funding left for the program by the end of the month.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20920548/from/RS.1/
Loved the thread, the posts, the painting by Christy!
V - good to read!
Christy, that really is a thoughtful and poignant gift!!! Good job!
Thanks you guys.
I am glad yall like it.
And thanks for posting a pic of it! I didn't get one of it before it went out. I usually spend a lot of time with my pieces when they are complete (it may be an ego thing, but I am not sure.), now I can see him whenever I want.
My friend Christina called me when I put the orange on it, she was like... 'What are you doing?"
I said 'Painting Gandhi."
She just snorted with laughter and I was like 'What?". She says 'Your the only person I call who says things like that to me!'
Then 'Ill be right over to see it.'
I still don't know wtf she meant by that.
Sparrow and NMP, I absolutely will start on projects for you next.
You too V and Woz.
Think of 3 colors, two solid, one accent. If you want a specific theme, I'll need to know what, if not I can make it up.
Hey Monkey.
Do you trust me?
Email me your mailing address.
I painted something pretty for your wife. And no it does not involve primates, tutus, or coin cups to beg with.
I will give you a hint though...Orange and purple. And green.
HAHA!
Rossi.... Im working on it. Any specific color you want to stand out?
In the meantime though,... is there any way you can post pics of the Virgin paintings I did ? I didn't get pics of those either.
I will try to get a pic of the one I did yesterday. For my man. It is... I impressed myself. Him too.
I am going back to my shop to touch her face for a while.
Love you guys.
Posted by: Christy at September 22, 2007 02:30 PM
Orange, purple & green... it's a dead giveaway, thanks for the hint! ;-)
Mailing addy en route...
Dontcha just dig the artist in us?
http://www.moboogie.net
I heard about this awhile ago but it's strange to think of people in the UK opening the Telegraph and reading that ..
The Texan George Bush is Afraid of Horses
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/21/wbush121.xml
Speaking of art, have you been Simpsonized? Click on my name and read the 2nd comment to see how to be.
Posted by: nmp at September 22, 2007 04:02 PM
Asked for his reaction to criticism from former aides, the president replied: "My feelings are not hurt."
(No kidding, Dubya... that would imply you had feelings in the first place)
Iraqis: Video shows Blackwater guards fired 1st
Official in Baghdad says U.S. contractors were responsible for 11 deaths
BAGHDAD - Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in an incident last week in which 11 people died, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case had been referred to the Iraqi judiciary.
Iraq's president, meanwhile, demanded that the Americans release an Iranian arrested this week on suspicion of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias. The demand adds new strains to U.S.-Iraqi relations only days before a meeting between President Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi authorities had completed an investigation into the Sept. 20 shooting in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths.
He told The Associated Press that the conclusion was based on witness statements as well as videotape shot by cameras at the nearby headquarters of the national police command. He said eight people were killed at the scene and three of the 15 wounded died in hospitals.
Blackwater, which provides most of the security for U.S. diplomats and civilian officials in Iraq, has insisted that its guards came under fire from armed insurgents and shot back only to defend themselves.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20921619/
Karen... great thread... as for this particular story, I can honestly say I saw it coming in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and so on...
I will be buying Pink's album after seeing this video and listening to the words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DEh0eSpNvY
Dear Mr. President"
(feat. Indigo Girls)
Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me.
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.
What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?
Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say
No child is left behind?
We're not dumb and we're not blind.
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell.
What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh
How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You'd never take a walk with me.
Would you?
Karen--
Maybe Code Pink should make "Dear Mr. President" their theme song and play it in the halls of Congress. (OF course insert the Congressman's name.)
Posted by: monkey at September 22, 2007 03:22 PM
Orange, purple and green a dead giveaway?
Ok... hmmm...
an orange scarf for election fraud.
A purple dinasaur who sings, "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family...".
And the green--that's harder for me. Money? Green grass? Green monster? Green machine?
I can't figure it out.
Sparrow and NMP, I absolutely will start on projects for you next.
You too V and Woz.
Think of 3 colors, two solid, one accent. If you want a specific theme, I'll need to know what, if not I can make it up.
...
Love you guys.
Posted by: Christy at September 22, 2007 02:30 PM
Christy,
That's so special that I'm speechless. Thank you so much. I am honored! (We can chat more over email about this if you really want to work on one for me.)
Maybe I can borrow that tune posted above..."I love you, you love me, we're a happy family..." (dysfunctional at times of course! But still...)
Barney references void where prohibited.
Barney references void where prohibited.
Posted by: monkey at September 22, 2007 05:37 PM
Don't tell me...you're bigoted against dino's?
MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. - Republican Mitt Romney
on Saturday bluntly challenged his party to “put our own house in order” as the GOP presidential candidates courted activists in Michigan, now an important player in the nomination march.
Rivals John McCain and Rudy Giuliani also assailed Democratic contenders during a weekend retreat attended by some 1,500 Republicans on a picturesque Lake Huron island.
“Washington is failing us,” Romney said in a speech that is part of a new effort to cast him as the candidate who can lead the party back to its core principles.
“The blame doesn’t all belong to the Democrats. We Republicans have to put our own house in order,” the former Massachusetts governor said.
McCain, in remarks planned for Saturday night, lamented “a perilous time for our party but, far more important, a perilous time for our country.” The Arizona senator attacked the national security positions of the leading Democratic candidates, although he did not name the politicians, and renewed his call for resolve on Iraq.
Former New York Mayor Giuliani drew boisterous bursts of applause, cheers and laughter Friday night for castigating the Democrats.
At one point, he asked: “Do we go in the direction of much larger government, which is where Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John Edwards will take us, or do we go in the direction of ... giving people more control over their own lives?”
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20923022/
Under Republican control for the majority of this decade, does anyone feel they have more control of their lives? Romney says the blame doesn't all belong to the Democrats... I'm not sayin they're blameless either, but WHO THE HELL has been in charge, stunt-Republicans?
So much for the party of so-called personal responsibility...
Posted by: sparrow at September 22, 2007 04:58 PM
hey sparrow,
glad to see the Pink song posted again. It's been a while. She is awesome - the song/video amazing.
September 23, 2007
More Profit and Less Nursing at Many Homes
By CHARLES DUHIGG
Habana Health Care Center, a 150-bed nursing home in Tampa, Fla., was struggling when a group of large private investment firms purchased it and 48 other nursing homes in 2002.
The facility’s managers quickly cut costs. Within months, the number of clinical registered nurses at the home was half what it had been a year earlier, records collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicate. Budgets for nursing supplies, resident activities and other services also fell, according to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration.
The investors and operators were soon earning millions of dollars a year from their 49 homes.
Residents fared less well. Over three years, 15 at Habana died from what their families contend was negligent care in lawsuits filed in state court. Regulators repeatedly warned the home that staff levels were below mandatory minimums. When regulators visited, they found malfunctioning fire doors, unhygienic kitchens and a resident using a leg brace that was broken.
“They’ve created a hellhole,” said Vivian Hewitt, who sued Habana in 2004 when her mother died after a large bedsore became infected by feces.
Habana is one of thousands of nursing homes across the nation that large Wall Street investment companies have bought or agreed to acquire in recent years.
Those investors include prominent private equity firms like Warburg Pincus and the Carlyle Group, better known for buying companies like Dunkin’ Donuts.
As such investors have acquired nursing homes, they have often reduced costs, increased profits and quickly resold facilities for significant gains.
But by many regulatory benchmarks, residents at those nursing homes are worse off, on average, than they were under previous owners, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data collected by government agencies from 2000 to 2006.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/business/23nursing.html
Love you guys.
Posted by: Christy at September 22, 2007 02:30 PM
I just did so on my site if you want to go and get some pics. Love Gandi
luv rossi
http://rossiannsretreat.blogspot.com/
Posted by: karen at September 22, 2007 11:10 AM
Job well done, Christy!!!
Karen... great thread... as for this particular story, I can honestly say I saw it coming in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and so on...
Posted by: monkey at September 22, 2007 04:13 PM
It's one of those things that we see and push away inside our heads in case it really happens.
And why arrest an Iraqi citizen for gun running? I wonder where those hundreds of thousands of American weapons are that would fetch a high price. Blackwater is there to make a killing in both economic and human terms. It seems to me they are succeeding at both.
Blackwater is there to make a killing in both economic and human terms. It seems to me they are succeeding at both.
Posted by: woz at September 22, 2007 08:03 PM
And the most disgusting thing is, they are doing it in the name of Jesus Christ, who supposedly stands for peace and life.
As long as I live in the US, I will never again be a Christian.
If I want to see the YouTube videos that have been made by global village, how do I find them?
How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You'd never take a walk with me.
Would you?
Posted by: sparrow at September 22, 2007 04:58 PM
I play it all the time in my car while driving, goes with my anti bush stickers, I like the last song on her album no 15 I have seen the rain, Her father wrote it in Vietnam 40 years ago, he taught her to sing and play guitar from a baby singing at Vietnam Vets events, He sings with her on the last song of the Album she harmonises
Posted by: Cyrano at September 22, 2007 06:22 PM
Cyrano, I am so glad that I'm not American. I can grow old with dignity and have plenty of care and compassion with no financial burden to bring me down to a very sad place.
Posted by: rossiann at September 22, 2007 08:41 PM
I never heard the whole album. Also, my car radio has been broken for almost a year now, and my sound board on my computer doesn't always work. So I feel like I have missed many of the newer music out there.
Ally, I understand that you yourself have experienced many things as a result of direct Asian-American Christians bigotry against gays and transgenders. But please remember that there are good Christians out there. One of which is our own TSP. And I think Skeptica and Kos5678 are probably the same too. But also, I know many devout Christians who are appalled by what many have done in Jesus' name. So don't give up on all completely. (Heck...if we gave up on everyone of one race, religion, or creed, then we'd all live on separate little islands surrounded by oceans and have to communicate with smoke signals. Sounds pretty good now that I mention it.)
REGARDING THE PEACE MOVEMENT:
I would like to mention that locally, in Western Michigan, there are signs that the peace folk are taking things to a higher level - more focused at results - they are pressuring, directly the political people, i.e. elected officials and what is left of the Democratic party. Myself and other became so frustrated at the lack of action at the national level that we started to focus on the local level. In 2006, several county Democrat parties passed resolutions calling for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. A version of this resolution made it into the Michigan Dem party platform. Michigan cities have also passed resolutions going on record as favoring withdrawal from Iraq.
Most recently and most encouraging, the peace folks in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids have begun to target Republican congressmen who support the war. The folks in Kalamazoo took out another full page ad in the newspaper calling for withdrawal of troops and had a long list of cosigners from Rep. Upton's (R) 6th Congressional district. They are starting to protest regularly at Upton's district offices.
Here is a recent You Tube of an encounter with Rep. Upton:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSopPplUNMo
And then there was my up close and personal encounter with rightwing Congressman Walberg, as I pressed him on the Iraq war after a 9-11 commemoration.
I view myself as a lobbyist for peace.
I was absolutely stunned that the Levin Reed amendment failed on Thursday(?) - all the Dems needed was a simple majority and they failed.
Worst of all Senator Chris Dodd voted against the amendment, as did two other Dems - this is like getting stabbed in the heart. I called Dodd's office the day of the vote to register my disgust and got some lame cockamaymee story about Dodd favoring an even quicker withdrawal. I may do a You Tube video on Dodd's betrayal.
Posted by: sparrow at September 22, 2007 08:55 PM
How right you are sparrow. I reject religion for my own reasons. However I'm a global spiritualist. I take the good from all religions that I know something about and try to live the best life that I can. I adhere to most of the commandments although I have been known on occasion to covet my neighbour's ox, or was than an ass? In actual fact now that I think about it the coveting lasted about half a minute.
US alliance safe with Rudd, Congress told
Tom Hyland
September 23, 2007
FEDERAL Government claims that a Labor government would downgrade relations with the United States have been undermined by a report to the US Congress.
The report labels Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd a "moderate" who believes the alliance with the US is "of central importance to Australia".
While the report predicts the alliance could be in for a period of change in the next few months, it says this will not threaten the relationship: change will come regardless of who's in power in Canberra.
The report was prepared by the Congressional Research Service, the independent research arm of Congress. Its assessment of the future of the US-Australia alliance was made in its report for Congress updated last month.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/us-alliance-safe-with-rudd-congress-told/2007/09/22/1189881837027.html
Sometimes you learn that your time on earth is not up yet. And the photo here is truly incredible. As is the story.
Attributed to Miami Herald.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/09/22/1189881835046.html
Ally, I understand that you yourself have experienced many things as a result of direct Asian-American Christians bigotry against gays and transgenders. But please remember that there are good Christians out there. One of which is our own TSP. And I think Skeptica and Kos5678 are probably the same too. But also, I know many devout Christians who are appalled by what many have done in Jesus' name. So don't give up on all completely. (Heck...if we gave up on everyone of one race, religion, or creed, then we'd all live on separate little islands surrounded by oceans and have to communicate with smoke signals. Sounds pretty good now that I mention it.)
Posted by: sparrow at September 22, 2007 08:55 PM
My thoughts are, you are always a good christian if you try to live a good life, and try to live up to the 10 commandments. I always look at it as, if you live your life, trying not to have any regrets, then you are a christian
I dont need any church telling me how to live my life today, especially with what is going on in all churches today, the Hypocracy is overwhelming, and the thought that Georgie declares himself to be a Christian or whatever the hell, he declares himself to be, makes me want to puke, and also makes me realise that my feelings are right for me, and that is what counts.
Ahhhhhhh Kev stop friking shaking you head at me.
Hey Christy I posted the Pink Link as a Header on Rebelle check it out, now anyone can listen to her when they link in to read the site, click on my name.
Posted by: rossiann at September 22, 2007 09:37 PM
Yes. It's how you live your life. How you treat others.
George W. Bush is no Christian and how he sleeps at night, I'll never know!! But I only hope that the retribution for his actions will come from a 'higher power' on his judgement day. And may he burn in H*ll for the H*ll he's made on earth.
(*No secret service...this ain't a threat and it ain't a reason for a warrant. It's not a threat against the criminal king.)
(*No secret service...this ain't a threat and it ain't a reason for a warrant. It's not a threat against the criminal king.)
Posted by: sparrow at September 22, 2007 10:06 PM
That is the saddest thing of all today, you have to think of everything you say to friends, to anybody, and how it is construed by the thugs in the White House and what they could do to you, and they dare to call this freedom, and declare that they are Liberating Iraq. God help us all from their LIBERATION, that's all I can say.
Posted by: rossiann at September 22, 2007 10:15 PM
Well, have no fears. They were tapping me and reading my emails before I made that statement. Afterall, I was interviewed in the WAPO for the Peace movement and I was shown marching in one of the media's videos (with Marietta!).
So they've been watching me for years.
I did think upon reading earlier when I read that they are keeping track of the books you have when you travel. So let's see...I've travelled with Jesselyn's book, so they know I'm a patriotic truth teller. And I'm sure they may have seen a romance or two. (Yep. I'm definitely a scary creature.)
Posted by: Carol at September 22, 2007 05:57 PM
Carol,
Crooks and Liars had it up again but this time she used different backgrounds for it. That's why I saw it again.
Carol,
How are your op-eds going?
Speaking of being on their radar ..
Agency's Collection of Traveler Data Challenged
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092207C.shtml
Ellen Nakashima, The Washington Post, reports: "The US government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials."
Are you taking notice Georgie?
Pope: War on terror must honor laws
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Democratic societies have the right to defend themselves against terrorism but must respect laws and human rights in their struggle — or risk endangering the very freedoms they seek to protect, Pope Benedict XVI said Friday.
"In democratic systems, the use of force in a manner contrary to the principles of a constitutional state can never be justified," the pope said at an audience with members of the Centrist Democrat International, an association of center-right parties from around the world.
"Terrorism is a serious problem whose perpetrators often claim to act in God's name and harbor an inexcusable contempt for human life," Benedict said.
The pope said that some terrorist networks justify their actions by "shamelessly" exploiting the charge that society has forgotten God, and said that a greater respect for religion could help counter that accusation.
"Society naturally has a right to defend itself," but the struggle against terrorism must respect moral and legal norms, the pope told the politicians gathered at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.
The only thing wrong is. he is 5 years to late saying it.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-09-21-vatican-terror_N.htm
hundreds of Buddhist monks demonstrating in Myanmar
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6268946.html
sparrow and nmp
In December and January of 1979 I went to the United states. I travelled on the same flight to LA as an American family who were my neighbours here in Australia and were going home for a family visit. I had my 2 little boys with me - preschoolers and the 2 teens of my friend swapped seats with me so that they could entertain my boys and I could talk to their mother.
We parted at LA. They went to Wisconsin and my boys and I went to New Jersey. This was early december. In late January we went to Wisconsin to visit and spend a week looking around. I flew from Wisconsin to LA to meet my parents and travel home to Australia. When I went to check in for my LA to Sydney flight, I was asked if I was still travelling with the *bleep* family. I was stunned.
When my neighbours arrived home after I did, they said that they were asked the same question - were they still travelling with me. We were all pretty spooked by that but soon forgot about it. Until this issue was raised here, I hadn't thought about it at all, since 1979.
hundreds of Buddhist monks demonstrating in Myanmar
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6268946.html
Posted by: nmp at September 22, 2007 11:28 PM
Isn't that the best sight? I love it.
Woz
Probably most of us who protested the Vietnam War have been under surveillance for some time.
You know, I had a friend from Thailand call me from OR - he has lived in US for 28 years and is a Landed Immigrant. Someone called him and told him to leave the country or he would be locked up in a detention camp, and then hung up. He was almost in tears. I don't know how it happened, but I tried to assure him that most of Americans are immigrants of one kind or another, and there would be mass hysteria before anything like that would happen.
What scares me is that everything is so uncertain that people have these fears, and some things they fear may have a foundation in reality, but the way the world is right now lends itself to alot of paranoia. Unfortunately, there seems to be alot of it at the highest levels! & when I look on the rightwing sites, there is alot of fear (mostly of terrorism) and on the leftwing sites, alot of fear (mostly of the government).
Just got this from Paris from Clinton's intern (Bill) from Clinton Global Initiatives - it's Bill on John Stewart. Pretty interesting - they just finished the book "Giving." He sure looks good after what we've had for the last few years.
http://www.indecision2008.com/blog.jhtml?c=vc&videoId=103174
Britain has plutonium for 17,000 Nagasaki bombs:
Britain has amassed a stockpile of more than 100 metric tons of plutonium -- enough for 17,000 bombs of the size that flattened Japan's Nagasaki in 1945, a report from the country's top science institution said on Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070920/wl_nm/climate_britain_nuclear_dc
OT, but... what else would expect from an OTter, anyway?... and reply # 46 pimps the DCP, among other things...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3540637&mesg_id=3540896
(Oh, and btw.... Christy, that portrait, and the added effort of giving it that specific new home, totally kicks ass!)
you don't have to hate all that is right, just, honest, or true to vote for republicans -- but it helps,
Otter
PARIS, France (AP) -- Marcel Marceau, who revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, has died, French media reported Sunday. He was 84.
France-Info radio and LCI television said the family had announced the death of Marceau. No other details were released.
Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, the world-famous Marceau played the entire range of human emotions onstage for more than 50 years, never uttering a word. Offstage, he was famously chatty. "Never get a mime talking. He won't stop," he once said.
A French Jew, Marceau survived the Holocaust -- and also worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children.
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/09/23/marceau.ap/index.html
I think several moments of silence is appropriate...
And he was an expert at thinking *inside* the box, too...
If Corporate chiefs are deserting Bushco, no doubt the media will swing back. However, we don't want bias either way. And there doesn't need to be. The media follows the money.
Corporate chiefs desert Bush for Democrats
September 23, 2007
DOZENS of US corporate executives who backed President George Bush for re-election in 2004, including some of his top fund-raisers, are now helping Democrats running for the presidency.
John Mack, chief executive of Morgan Stanley; Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp; and Terry Semel, chairman of Yahoo! Inc, are among some 60 executives writing cheques to Democrats such as senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, a review of US Federal Election Commission records shows.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/corporate-chiefs-desert-bush-for-democrats/2007/09/22/1189881828867.html
We don't have HBO at our house, but occasionally we catch Bill Maher when we're staying at a hotel or something.
Here's a great clip that was featured on rawstory (video at the bottom of the story - so refreshing:
HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher weighs in on the MoveOn 'Betray Us?' ad
http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Bill_Maher_on_Betray_Us_ad_0922.html
here's another clip from the same panel on Bill Maher:
Janeane Garofalo: If Colin Powell had found his integrity, he could have changed the course of history
http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Bill_Maher_on_Betray_Us_ad_0922.html
U.S. military chief foresees 'no war' with Iran
Commander of Mideast forces urges emphasis on dialogue, diplomacy
BAGHDAD - The commander of U.S. military forces in the Middle East does not believe current tensions with Iran will lead to war and urges for greater emphasis on dialogue and diplomacy.
“This constant drum beat of conflict is what strikes me which is not helpful and not useful,” Adm. William Fallon said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television, which made a partial transcript available Sunday.
Fallon, the head of U.S. Central Command, wraps up a seven-nation tour of the region on Tuesday that included stops in Persian Gulf countries, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Many of the talks with military and political leaders were dominated by worries about expanding Iranian influence and U.S. accusations that Iran is supplying arms and training to Shiite militiamen in Iraq.
“I expect that there will be no war and that is what we ought to be working for,” said Fallon during the Friday interview at Al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Qatar. “We should find ways through which we can bring countries to work together for the benefit of all .... It is not a good idea to be in a state of war. We ought to try and to do our utmost to create different conditions.”
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20929288/
I dunno Otter, doesn't that statement sound a lot like "we need to start making some friends in the world", which was so widely ridiculed back in '04?
Woz,
Here's global village's Youtube link. I had a difficult time finding it.
In fact, I needed to track gv down to get the link that's how difficult it was for me to fine. Now, I need to favorite it myself so that I don't have to do that again!
GV says "Hey" to everyone here and "Keep the faith!"
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=globalvillage1
A French Jew, Marceau survived the Holocaust -- and also worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children.
Posted by: monkey at September 23, 2007 07:27 AM
What would the world be like today if it weren't for the resisters like him and others? When my children homeschooled, the French Resistance and the Resistance in other countries was something that we did a unit study on. They were an amazing group of people and when you see what they had to go through and their punishment if caught, it makes you realize just how amazing they were.
In that respect, that is how I look at the Code Pink ladies. They are our resistance movement. Though they aren't being sent to concentration camps and tortured and left to die if caught, they still represent the conscience of this country. And they still risk body injury each time they're arrested. I think that's one reason why the video of Rev. Yearwood getting mauled by the police at the Capitol that day upset me so much. The overlap of a man of Peace getting "put down" in such a violent way just really exemplified what is wrong with those people in Congress and in the W.H.
But Karen told me that the Police have pictures of the Code Pink ladies (and the men) up at their stations. They are told to watch out for them and to arrest them. Each time they're arrested they sit chained or cuffed in a hot paddy wagon or a freezing cold floor. Wherever it's most uncomfortable is where they're put for hours on end.
They also receive hate mail like you wouldn't believe! Col. Ann Wright commented on it at the Impeachment Forum last June. They receive death threats, threats of rape, etc...
Maybe that's what happens when you become the conscience of a country. I can not say that I know it all.
And many in our country think that Code Pink and the Anti-war movement are the 'liberal extremists' but is that how they would have thought of the resistance in WWII? Those resisters were not appreciated until after the war ended, so perhaps that will happen to the Code Pink and Anti-war movement.
So while I give a moment of silence to Marceau and think about the way he lived his life, I think I will have another moment of silence for those who joined him in the resistance (both dead and alive), and for those they saved.
After that, I will think of the children who Code Pink is trying to save and I will think of ways I can help them and join with them. Because I've always felt since 2004 when we came to the John Kerry blog (or kos or DU) that we were the underground resistance.
And it was on the John Kerry blog that I learned more about the fascism and corporate fascism in which we find ourselves mired. And it's where I discovered I needed to join the resistance and fight back. But it's here at the DCP where I've learned to better formulate my plans and utilize my skills. And it's where I come to get inspired to keep up the good fight and to keep the faith too.
Now here a real good example of physical masculinity - not war, not even football! It's also an example of fair competition & international working-togetherness. & it's artistic but also populist!
http://www.hiphop.ch/multimedia/videoplayer/index.php?vid=bcone_3
Monkey
Marceau and also Barbara Eden, of "I Dream of Jeannie" - she could be stuffed back in a bottle, unlike the more feminist Samantha of "Bewitched," who though a housewife, could manipulate Darren with magic. They were dreamed up by competing networks & were some of my childhood role models.
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com (theme music included)
Cyrano
Sad to hear about the nursing homes. I had read that Carlyle Group bought Manor Care. I worked in private practice as a speech pathologist in nursing homes for a decade and with the advent of for-profit management companies, care went downhill. Also, outright Medicare fraud was practiced - shameful. In this country, a nonprofit may be more ethical. It's certainly my experience. Elderly and the vulnerable are not pawns for profit! For-profit prisons and juvenile detention centers are also a popular investment for these unscrupulous pigs who tend to operate politically in tandem with the supposed "moral" party. It's no wonder private contractors were involved in 1/3 of the allegations at Abu Graib and got off scot-free, and that our President is set to veto the Children's Health Bill.
nyceve has a great diary about the fact that Democratic presidential candidates are at least speaking about healthcare while the Republican ones aren't. It also talks about how we should appreciate that any one of those 8 people will do better than even one Republican.
(my own commentary: Sad but true. The Republican party is no longer the same party it was years ago. But if Democratic voters split up, then would be end up stuck with a Republican?)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/23/8729/17719#c235