Docudharma - Recommended Diaries

The Green Paradox

bigtwin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:07:26 GMT

I've sat down to write a followup of "The Green Desert" many times now. My apologies that my schedule has prevented me from devoting the proper time needed to organize my thoughts.

But a good thing has happened as a result of this delay - time has passed and our overgrown lawn is even more beautiful and/or unruly, depending on your point of view. Many many more flowers (and weeds) have bloomed. And most germane to the discussion, many many more honeybees have arrived.

Before I had mentioned that we had seen 3 or 4 bees, as many as we had seen from 2003 to 2007 combined. Now every day there are, I dunno, at least 50, maybe even more-it depends on the day and the time of day as well. But anyway, lots and lots of other types of insects too. Flies, butterflies & moths, lady bugs, and lots of just straight up bugs. (I hope they don't get in the house ;)

Now 50 bees here is one thing, let me tell you what else has been going on.

We got a new puppy this April, and since then we have been on the Spanagel Diet. Or rather "Exercise Plan ". We take our dog (Spanagel) on long walks over our (my parents) farm 270 acres, 70 of it woods, adjoining many square miles of public wilderness.

Out of variety sake, we decided to explore literally every hollow, creek, woods, and field feasible. The last 3 months we have covered more territory than ever before, seeing things for the first time even though I grew up on this land. And in all of our walking, we rarely see a bee, and never around a field.

In case you did not read the first essay, the fields are industrial corn and soybean fields. "Roundup Ready" meaning they have been engineered to withstand Roundup, herbicide extrordinare. Not that I don't think previous herbicides (and insecticides) didn't do their job as well, but the Roundup-GM Crop combo is something quite different.

Back to the bees. The Queen Ann's Lace, which dominates the areas around the fields, has some flies on it, but not a single bee. Queen Anne's Lace is also the dominate flowering "weed" in our yard, and it seems to be the bees' staple flower as well.

Now lets be clear and scientific (for a moment). I never made a point to look for bees before, and I walked around "out in the data" on the order of one-quarter or less than I do now. But I stand by my observations, and the conclusions that would seem obvious from this line of talk.

It was mentioned in the comments of the last essay, that Roundup was a herbicide, not an insecticide, and wouldn't affect the bees. Now one comment does not movement make, but it seems to me that many have lost sight of a basic concept: Everything is connected.

You cannot compartmentalize "herbicide" away from the rest of nature, and certainly not from something so nearly identical as "insecticide" Its not on a different channel. And neither is "water supply", "air", "mammal", "gonad", or anything else on this planet.

I'd like to make a couple more observations. I think is prevalent in our society today, and, perhaps surprisingly to some, found in equal values on both the left and right of the political spectrum, that people have no idea of the realities of farm life/history of farm life/the weather/and the truth of when you "hit the gound" (literally).

Now this lack of wisdom takes generally different forms on each side of the spectrum, but the outcome is the same--poor ideas, idiotic decisions, bad outcomes.

On top of all this, we are involved, perhaps too heavily, with our local zoning board. I recently questioned a part of our code that prohibited growing crops over septic fields. Someone replied (paraphrasing) "...but we don't want food grown over poop, there'll be disease problems..." I replied that poop was natural fertilizer and a proper outcome for waste disposal. (Our tomatoes over our septic field are the best ones we have, BTW) I received a scrunched forehead and a quizzical look from the other person. I am shamed to say this person was a "progressive". Have you all seen "Idiocracy" by Mike Judge? Makes me think I'm in that movie already. My wife quite often says now, "Oh my god, its that movie..."

You might say that the answer is so simple. But its not. For all of my assertions as to others' lack of wisdom, I must say that I am an idiot, because if society crumbled today, I would be hard pressed to survive, even though I live on hundreds of acres of tillable land, that my anscestors survived on using 19th and 20th century technology, and Native Ameicans survived on for milennia before that.

My father is 86 and still farms the land doing (at least) 90 percent of the work including planting, harvesting, repairing, maintaining, heavy lifting, etc. Manual labor, at a level than most people 40 years younger. No interest in retiring. No interest in "developing" his land (for what could turn out to be a few million dollars), even though we suffer through frequent accusations that we are motivations are to "divide up farmland. We have 200 tillable acres, which only pays because we haven't "recapitalized" (buy new equipment) in many years. The combine is a 1979, the main tractor is a 1982, and so forth. For what its worth, Purdue University, the state's Ag School, calculates you need to farm 1500 acres just to break even.
Even at 200 acres, one man now farms what used (pre 1970) to be three family farms. The good news is that because of that, you, and especially I, have been allowed to go on and have the rest of our lives, concerned with important jobs like web development, virtual reality, or the next big movie. Food is something you get at restaurant, or the grocery store. We get it effortlessly, allowing our minds to think lofty philosophical or religious thoughts of how the world should be.

My wife and I have watched, aghast, as my father has cut the woods back away from the field. I came home one day early in our time back here, "I killed 500 baby trees today," when he had me do similar work. I've seen, that the crops do grow better, by a large margin, when the woods is cut back. And we've watched, in amazement, as the cutting only makes the trees grow back quicker, and they are back to be cut again, sometimes just one season later.

Which brings me to the observation that humans GREATLY understimate nature. We have a three year old maple tree in our yard that we rescued out of a field about to be plowed. It is approaching 20 feet tall (I shit you not.) Now there's a bunch of other trees that haven't grown that much, but WTF.

Now I'm not saying that Roundup is OK, but going the other way completely is not the answer either. My father lived in the time before herbides. He had standing orders that when he did not have any other jobs to do, he was to take a hoe and go out into the field. The farm was then about 80 acres. Have any of you even hoed a quarter acre garden? It sucks. Especially in July and August, but guess what, that's when the "weeds" grow the best. My father has said that when 2-4-D (1950s herbicide) came out it was like a miracle.

And then there's insects. Pestulence eating your crops, either in the field, or in the bin. Don't want to eat flour with bugs in it? Tough shit-or starve. Anyway, its better than the other family who didn't have any wheat harvest at all. What's more, there was disease. Why did people cut down their grass and make that generic lawn I have lambasted now in two essays? Because someone lost a kid (more like half the town lost a kid) from disease from insects. (Up until 1915, you had a 50-50 chance of living past age 10).

So what's the answer to all this? Right now I'm inclined to say:

Defy your local zoning board and stop mowing your lawn; don't spray any poisons on it

Practice sound methods of hygiene (the true reason for the disease, usually not the insect)

Plant a garden, no matter how small; even if it's just on your window sill

Learn about your food; teach your children where food comes from

Avoid sweeping statements like "Farmers just want to ______"

Fight the copyrighting and trademarking of seeds (a trick of the genetically-modified crop corporations).

Give careful some thought and meditation on the subject of balance and success in food production for a modern, diversified society, and how to achieve a pleasant future for the residents of the planet Earth.

I'd like to thank everyone for putting me up on the front page on my previous post. It was a nice welcome. I was drawn to here from the unique diaries and pictures by buddydharma on that other site, and thought here would be a good place to post. Click on the mandala pictures for a high-res version of them. They are public domain.--bt

Please Welcome Docudharma's New Contributing Editors

Rusty1776 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:45:03 GMT

They're not as young as they used to be, but who among us is?

Specific duties are still being finalized, but Beaver will generally focus on gender issues, with the assistance of Miss Landers, who's 98 years old but has graciously agreed to come out of retirement to enhance our understanding of gender issues, perspectives, misperceptions, and especially the impact of faulty communication, which has been known to fuck up to a fare-thee-well debates about gender and every other issue.

Beaver will only be working 9 to 5, but Miss Landers will be available 24/7 to explain every gender issue imaginable, up to and including what misogyny is and what it isn't.

Wally will actively participate in every thread, striving to ensure that no one here acts like a Big Ape. That will be his only responsibility, but if recent events are any indication, it will be a full time job.

Eddie will be the host and moderator of a new DD forum entitled, What the Fuck Are You Doing, Obama? As is the case with Wally, that will be his only responsibility, but it will also be a FULL TIME job.

New DD Tradin' Post merchandise commemorating the arrival our new Contributing Editors will be available soon . . .

Code Talking White Trash & Exploitation Capitalism

Diane W — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:34:03 GMT

Cross-posted from The Wild, Wild Left

Were I not a recovering Catholic, I would surely believe I burned off many a purgatory hour yesterday, far exceeding the actual 7 hours spent in the merry go round of hell called "taking mother in law to her doctor's appointment."

Yes, yes, someone with life-long dementia and ever increasing short-term memory loss cannot help thinking perhaps three things all day and repeating them, not unlike the child I used to sit who has autism. She fixates. Repeats. And repeats. I can live with that.

I could live with the inevitable 2 hour wait that her appointments, no matter when they are, involve.

What really fucked up the day was the white-trash big mouth in the waiting room parroting winger-speak and racist code talk; looking for agreement from me.
She was also waiting for the same doctor, and was almost as irate as my mother in law. You expect an old lady to complain, or at least my MIL... what you don't expect is some unshowered, skinny 40 year old stringy red haired woman in jeans and a wife-beater shirt to start in.

When I tried to defuse my MIL with measured tones, telling her how doctors have to triple book to keep their HMO contracts, and that health care is now an enterprise based on Wall Street profits, based on share-holders rather than people my MIL calmed down.

White Trash did not. (*WT for brevity furthermore)

WT started in, in a loud screechy voice, "Well, do you want the government involved? That will really fuck things up!" I cringed, for there was a woman with 3 children, aged about 7 months, 2 and 4 sitting across the room.

Then she went on about how horrible it is in Canada, although admitting when asked she knew no one in Canada. A friend of hers visiting Canada once years ago was enough to make her an expert in the field.

I engaged her briefly, since she was speaking directly to me, and her volume alone precluded pretending politely not to hear her.

Then it started to get ugly. She went on about how people with NO insurance have it so very good, they get any and all medical treatment they want on demand, and never have to pay a single penny. Having been one of the people with NO insurance for my many years waitressing, I assured her that was not true. Enter code-speak. "Well, maybe you're not the right kind of person, she started, "My brother is a doctor and let me tell you that in downtown Chicago those people walk right in and get anything they want, while the people with insurance have to wait."

"That is utter bullshit," I said in a tone measured not to reach those baby's ears. Louder, I added, "Everyone should have a right to being healthy and getting an education in this country. There are many European models that make us look like we are in the Stone Ages."

WT answered, "I don't know nothing about Europe, but I know damn well whats wrong with America."

The lovely lady with the children added, "I agree with you." to me. WT sneered a little but refused to even glance her way.

Now I am steaming. WT starts in on how everything wrong with this country is that people expect hand-outs and then dragged out the tired old boot-strap meme. She railed, she went on.

"We are just going to have to agree to disagree." I said in my sternest voice, ending the conversation with the stone look on my face.

Nope. WT refused to be silenced. "Tell me how everyone can't get an education, anyone who wants one can go, there are loans, and if people weren't too lazy to work, they could have insurance too. Tell me how there isn't equal opportunity for everyone in this country."

I took the bait, refusing to let WT have the podium in a room-full of patients. I had to engage her carefully enough where she knew I wasn't buying it, no one should be buying it, but carefully enough not to have her angrily end up spewing out of her red-as-her-hair face something those babies shouldn't ever have to hear in their lives.

Luckily, right then the young mother and her children got called in to see their doctor.

"Look, I run a Political blog, and while I cannot claim to be an expert in everything, I have a lot of really smart people who write on my site. I have read economists, Military Commanders, doctors, lawyers and many other experts who have written about this.

There is NOT economic parity nor economic equal chance in this country. I have studied the actual demographics. The middle class is gone, honey, and 90% of the wealth in this country is now in 1% of the hands. There are no jobs. All these divisionary tactics keep us blaming eachother instead of the real problem. Greed. The haves and the have-nots.

I'll give you American Axle as an example. Those hard-working factory people, men and women who may have given as much as 30 years of their lives working their butts off, just took a 50% pay cut. Now the houses and student loans and their lifestyles had reflected a certain base pay, a pay no longer available to them. What happens to the broader market when all those people are foreclosed upon, because the money is no longer there?

Are you going to yell "bootstraps" at all these workers?

When there are no jobs, neighborhoods die, stores close, people move away, schools have no tax-base. In the meantime GM exec's make 100 times what the factory workers who actually do the work make, and they send those jobs to goddamned Vietnam.

This is a class war. Husbands can't support their families, women have to work, kids have to become latch-key kids... Thats whats wrong with America!

No darling, at one time Lee Iaccoca took NO salary for a few years, probably cashed in one of his Lears to survive it, to keep his company up and running, to make sure workers could afford the cars they made.

The PROBLEM isn't those people the problem is the greed of the rich.

This conversation is OVER."

The audience of patients, other than the young mother and her children, to WT and my exchange consisted of people in their 70's and 80's, all of which started saying "She's right, thats true!" and murmuring agreement to my soap-box.

WT stood and said, "I don't have time for this anyway. I'm not going to wait, my time is priceless, they can reschedule me."

Jake and I excused ourselves to go outside for a moment after she left. We had been waiting over an hour already, and as we walked out laughed a little about the long hell of waiting... but:

My 9 year old is astute.

As I lit my cigarette he said, "Maaaaaaaan, that woman was Racist, huh Mom?" I said "Yep, I had to really bite my tongue to not let her know what I really thought of her "code words" like those people. She thought because we were white, we'd agree, but I will never agree with that thinking."

Jake said, "You should have just got up and popped her one!" laughing.

"Uh, Jake, violence isn't the answer, and I would have ended up in jail for assault."

He had set me up, grinning broadly, "Yeah, but Jail would be better than in there!"

I laughed so hard I cried. "Gotcha!" He just gloated all over that he wanted to make that joke and I fell for it.

Jake is comic relief embodied.

sidebar to that: later the news was on in the waiting room, and it showed a horribly pot-holed road. Jake pops out "That road is worser than ours!" I eyeroll at him, "Jake, worser is NOT a word." Not to be corrected, he replies straight faced, meaning it, "Well Kieth Olbermann uses it all the time!"
Again crying laughing, "Dude, never learn proper English from a comedian, its a Joke, not a word!"
Jake: "He's Canadian?"
Mom: "No..." (looking confused for a moment) "He's American"
Jake: "Well, you said he's a Comedian, where's that?"
Now I am just dying, laughing... the explanation ensued, but god, how can a kid be so astute one moment and such a little kid the next?

Another hour into it, my MIL finally gets called in, and shortly after the Young Mom and her babies come out. I held the door for her double stroller and toddler to walk out.

In the hallway, I said in a stage whisper, "Permission to speak freely?" She grinned and nodded assent.

"Had I not been afraid that racist, code-talking, those people, Downtown, bitch would say something those babies should NEVER have to hear in their beautiful lives, I would have been up in her face in a heart-beat. I just didn't know how far she would go, challenged."

"I know, I knew you got it, thank you. You did alright anyway, I'm thinking."

She grabbed my hand, and squeezed it, and as I looked at my freckled golden skin next to her burnished ebony, I waved at my arm, and said "Just cuz mine looks like this doesn't mean I'll let her think I am anything like her."

She said "You have a beautiful day, baby, you made mine!"

Jake was right, of course, I have never wanted to pop a woman in the mouth more.

Never.

Sponsors Matter - 23 July 2008

RUKind — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:18:41 GMT

I guess this is Episode I or Volume I or whatever. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm well past outrage. That tank ran empty a ways back. I had hopes for Obama and the Constitution but I guess I'm just stuck with an over-fondness for basic human rights. Meanwhile, the propaganda machine goes on spewing its excrement everywhere and it's gotten so that you just can't avoid it anymore. Bottomline, like we used to say back in the day, there is some shit I will not eat!

I volunteered in an earlier response to an FP essay today to record O'Reilly tonight and compile a list of his sponsors with contact info. The idea is that we can share that input to output our feelings to the Uhmerican and otherwise corporations that pay Fox News Corpse and its deviant trolls to display their ignorance and arrogance whilst spewing their excremental effluence. (Run that one by BillO for translation.)

So, apologies for missing the first set of commercials (I'll be taping the 11:00 re-run and will UPDATE if someone out there can pass along the secret of how to do that.) The commercials went like this:

8:12 EDT

DirectTV directtv.com
ExxonMobil exxonmobil.com
BMW bmwusa.com
Capital One capitalone.com

Keep reading and writing and calling, please:
8:20

Comfort Suites choicehotels.com
We wecansolveit.org (cognitive dissonance - ~OO~)
Sunsetter Awning sunsetter.com 800 517 1889 (free DVD and sales stuff; fake addresses?)
Erickson Retirement erickson.com 800 883 1905
Hotels.com

8:28

Progressive Car Insrance progressive.com
Expedia .com
J. M. Eagle jmeagle.com (973) 535-1633 (planet's largest plastic pipe producer)
Hertz .com
Levitra .com a product of Bayer AG - bayer.com

8:36

Volvo volvocars.com
Lending Tree lendingtree.com 800 555 TREE (8733)
Joseph A. Banks josbank.com
Florida Orange Juice floridajuice.com
Aqua Globes buyaquaglobes.com 800 875 3459 (plant watering work-of-art globes???)

8:45

Head&Shoulders headandshoulders.com - by Procter&Gamble pg.com
Match.com
some local stuff for the Plymouth Bay area
comcast.net
Duxbury Jewelers
BMW Norwell/Norwood
Sleepy's Mattresses sleepys.com (en espanol, tambien, por los pobres)

8:53

Nationwide Car Insurance nationwide.com
Bayer Aspirin wonderdrug.com (unlike Bayer Heroin[tm], not making this up!)
Mercedes C300 mbusa.com
Merril Lynch (Bullshitting America one customer at a time, RUKind) 800-MERRILL
Pasta n' More pastanmore.com 800 461 3147 (pasta cooking work-of-art things)

So that's what I have for tonight's episode. I was running late due to horrific T-storms with tornado warnings (umm, not normal here on Cape Cod Bay). This is coincident with a hurricane named D going ashore today in TX. A "D" on July 23? We might run the alphabet this year.

The game plan from here would be to raise as much hell as possible for the assholes who hand their money to Fox and particularly for those who choose to support the likes of Bill O'Reilly. I'll do the same tomorrow night and on and on. If it catches on then great. If not, then at least an attempt was made to hit these assholes in the only place it actually hurts them - their wallets.

I actually watched BillO while I was having my evening meal tonight - even the eight minutes with Dick Morris. Didn't know I could do that. I guess it was some sort of personal growth moment.

Volunteers invited to expand to Chris Matthews, Hannity, Duecy, etc. Maybe some gfx design type to punch up the format. RiaD had a nice idea of "form" letters for outrage.

''If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it.'' Clayton Williams (R-TX) while running against Ste. Ann Richards (wrt rape); I guess I just can't relax.

Satya.

Support the Kucinich Impeachment Hearing on Friday

bob fertik — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:54:55 GMT

Rep. Dennis Kucinich has led the fight for impeachment since April 2007, when he defied Speaker Pelosi and courageously introduced 3 Articles of Impeachment (H.Res. 333/799) against Vice President Cheney. On June 10, Kucinich defied Speaker Pelosi again and introduced 35 Articles of Impeachment (H.Res. 1258) against President Bush.

When Pelosi refused to allow hearings on any of the 38 Articles of Impeachment, Kucinich returned to the floor of Congress to introduce one more Article of Impeachment against President Bush (H.Res. 1345).
Thanks to massive pressure from Democrats.com and our pro-impeachment allies, Speaker Pelosi finally allowed Chairman Conyers to hold a hearing this Friday. Kucinich will finally get a few minutes to argue for impeachment, along with Rep. Robert Wexler, former Rep. Liz Holtzman, and former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson. Kucinich made a video to thank us for our efforts.

H.Res. 1345 focuses on Bush's ultimate crime - invading Iraq on the basis of lies. The evidence is overwhelming that George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Karl Rove, Andy Card, and other top officials deliberately manufactured those lies to "sell" an invasion whose real purpose was to gain control of Iraq's oil and establish military bases in the heart of the Middle East.

This was the agenda of the Project for a New American Century that Bush adopted after stealing the 2000 election. And it's the reason Bush and John McCain are determined to stay in Iraq forever, even though Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki supports Barack Obama's plan to remove all our troops by 2010.

When Kucinich testifies on Friday, he will naturally face hostile questions from rightwing Republicans who impeached President Clinton. But Kucinich will also face hostile questions from key Democrats who oppose impeachment.

Some of these Democrats supported the invasion of Iraq: Howard Berman (CA28), Rick Boucher (VA09), Adam Schiff (CA29), Brad Sherman (CA27), and Anthony Weiner (NY09).

But most of these Democrats oppose impeachment because they are cowering in fear of a counterattack from the White House and FOX News: John Conyers (MI14), Artur Davis (AL07), Bill Delahunt (MA10), Zoe Lofgren (CA16), Jerry Nadler (NY08), Linda Sanchez (CA39), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL20), Bobby Scott (VA03), Betty Sutton (OH13), and Mel Watt (NC12).

Only a few Judiciary Democrats understand that the Founding Fathers gave Congress the power of impeachment as the only way to stop a President from defying the Constitution and becoming a dictator, as Bush has done: Robert Wexler (FL19), Tammy Baldwin (WI02), Steve Cohen (TN09), Keith Ellison (MN05), Luis Gutierrez (IL04), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX18), Hank Johnson (GA04), and Maxine Waters (CA35).

If anti-impeachment Democrats get their way, Friday's 2-hour hearing will be the only "impeachment" hearing for this entire Congress - and then Bush will try to pardon himself and everyone else before leaving office next January, just as his father pardoned six Iran-contra criminals.

So it is crucial for all of us - now over 500,000! - to tell our Representatives today to support impeachment by cosponsoring Kucinich's H. Res. 1345:

http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/142

And if you can do more, please make free calls to every Judiciary Democrat who opposes impeachment through CauseCaller:

http://www.causecaller.com/causes.php?c=House_Judiciary_Democrats_Impeachment

Simply enter your phone number and click the "Start Calling" button. (Click "Call me back if I accidentally hang up" in case you hang up by mistake.) In a few seconds, your phone will "magically" ring and CauseCaller will say the name of the first Representative on the list. Listen carefully for the name of each Member so you can repeat the name to the receptionist - or just say "The Representative." Don't hang up between calls - let the receptionists hang up and CauseCaller will dial the next Representative.

If you want to do even more, call your favorite radio or TV talk shows and tell them how important Friday's hearings will be, and how strongly you support impeachment for whichever reasons are most important to you. Prepare your thoughts in advance so you sound informed and determined.

And if you're near Washington DC, join Veterans for Peace to lobby Congress on Thursday and hold a pro-impeachment rally on Friday:

http://www.democrats.com/node/17211

Lots more details and actions here:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/34943

Real News: Ex-CIA Agent Ray McGovern on Obama's 'New World'

Edger — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:37:26 GMT

Transcript here.
McGovern: "The game is over with Iraq and so the question is how does this strategic change affect the real players in the area. The Israeli right wants a confrontation with Iran to keep US forces in the region. The US military leadership is against a "third front" but has to contend with Cheney.
Raymond McGovern is a retired CIA officer. McGovern was a Federal employee under seven US presidents for over 27 years, presenting the morning intelligence briefings at the White House for many of them. McGovern was born and raised in Bronx, graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University, received an M.A. in Russian Studies from Fordham, a certificate in Theological Studies from Georgetown University, and graduated from Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program.

Through the Darkest of Nights: Testament XXVIII

Rusty1776 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:20:23 GMT

Every few days over the next several months I will be posting installments of a novel about life, death, war and politics in America since 9/11. Through the Darkest of Nights is a story of hope, reflection, determination, and redemption. It is a testament to the progressive values we all believe in, have always defended, and always will defend no matter how long this darkness lasts. But most of all, it is a search for identity and meaning in an empty world.

Naked and alone we came into exile. In her dark womb, we did not know our mother's face; from the prison of her flesh have we come into the unspeakable and incommunicable prison of this earth. Which of us has known his brother? Which of us has looked into his father's heart? Which of us has not remained prison-pent? Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone? ~Thomas Wolfe

All installments are available for reading here on Docudharma's Series page, and also here on Docudharma's Fiction Page, where refuge from politicians, blogging overload, and one BushCo outrage after another can always be found.

Through the Darkest of Nights

Taking a Stand

Shannon's getting restless. So am I.

I've come to the Jefferson Memorial many times as the fifth year of this criminal presidency drags on, I've needed inspiration and always find it here. Jefferson took a stand against tyranny and injustice, he showed us how, he told us why, he's still showing us how, he's still telling us why. He knew every generation must take a stand, he knew tyranny and injustice will always have to be confronted if freedom and justice are to survive.

Shannon's been trying to get Rachael's journals published for months, but no publisher will touch them. Books like John Dean's Worse Than Watergate and Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies have made it to publication, Fahrenheit 9/11 was seen by millions of people, but the revelations in them, as disturbing as they are, pale in comparison to what's in Rachael's journals.

Publishers are afraid to publish the bitter truth in its entirety, there's a point beyond which they will not go, there's a line they will not cross. They recoil from shattering the illusion that America is a democracy, they'll publish authors warning that the shadow of fascism is beginning to darken the highest levels of America's political, defense, and intelligence establishments, but they won't publish definitive proof that the beast itself is already here, that it's been here ever since President Eisenhower saw its approaching shadow and implored Americans to slay the beast before it slays them.

Americans are living each day in fear, that fear is just beneath the surface, it's rarely spoken of, but it's pervasive, it's far more deeply felt and more insidious than the McCarthy era fear that silenced dissent a half century ago. Fear is everywhere, it's a coast to coast mind killer, it will be a nation killer if the courage to overcome it is not summoned.

I look up at the statue of Thomas Jefferson and wonder how bad it has to get before Americans will say enough. Who will take a stand? Who will find the courage to stand up and speak out, who will overcome their fear and confront this criminal president? Who will tell the ugly truth about him and his corporate masters? Who will condemn them for what they are--fascists with American flag pins on their lapels, fascists in denial of what they are, fascists as demented and dangerous as the psychopaths who unleashed a global war a half century ago.

They control the White House, the Supreme Court, and Congress. They control the Department of Injustice and the FBI, they control the Department of Homeland Security and the CIA. They have the National Security Agency and its high tech surveillance power in their fascist hands, they have 24/7 control over the corporate media, they have an endless supply of K-Street cash, they have police with itchy taser trigger fingers and Blackwater thugs with licenses to kill. They have all the political and economic power that deceit, subversion, coercion, blackmail, and war profiteering blood money can buy.

They've locked America's soldiers into an Oil War Prison in Iraq and have thrown away the key. Anyone who dares say so is slandered as an appeaser of terrorists, they're demonized for "not supporting the troops." So very few speak out, very few dare tell the awful truth. No one will say enough, no one will take a stand, no one in Congress, no one in the media, no one in the military, they're all silent.

Moral cowardice, pretense, delusion, and selfishness have spread like a viral infection through the bloodstream of America. Most Americans decided long ago to quit caring what their government does, to quit caring about the suffering of others, to quit trying to sort out the truth from the lies. They just look out for Good Old Number One. Nothing else matters enough to pay any attention to, nothing, especially the truth.

Where is it? Where can it be heard? In rare moments when it's spoken, it can't be heard above the din of a billion TV's blaring mindless chatter, it can't be heard above the noise of distortion and deceit that never stops pulsing across the corporate airwaves of this country.

A few brave souls organize protests and speak out, but Americans have been psychologically conditioned to believe that public protests are self-indulgent and unpatriotic, that they are useless, that they are embarrassing spectacles no self-respecting citizen would take part in. Americans who know better, who understand what patriotism is, who organize and participate in protests are portrayed as wild-eyed radicals by the corporate media.

Too many Americans believe that portrayal and never question it. Millions of others see protesters as people who think they're smarter than everyone else, and react with anger and hostility. Government abuses of power that compel patriotic Americans to protest don't offend them, the protesters offend them. It makes no sense, but not much in America makes sense anymore.

Too many Americans believe whatever the government tells them to believe, they see what they're told to see, they hear what they're told to hear, they say what they're told to say. Young Americans join the military and fight whoever they're told to fight, while their families back home buy things they don't need with money they don't have. They want it. So they buy it. With plastic. Consumption is the only comfort they can find, so they consume and consume and keep consuming until they're dead and consume a six-foot-deep hole in the ground.

Until that final day of consumption, handled by a funeral home for the bargain price of only $10,000, they're just cogs in the machine, existing in their consumer homes on their consumer streets in their consumer towns, sitting in their consumer clothes on their consumer couches, watching everyone on their consumer TV's consume, watching them consume in ads, consume in sitcoms, consume in soap operas, watching them consume, consume, consume on every program on every channel. As it has been, as it is now, as it ever shall be unless a tidal wave of debt sweeps this nation away and the world says good riddance to America and its mindless materialism.

I got on the Metro and took the Yellow Line to Huntington Station in Alexandria, disgusted with this country and damn near everyone in it. For generations, tens of millions of Americans have gone to work each day, they've gone to work for ten years, for twenty years, for thirty, forty years or more, telling themselves every day that working their dead end job had some meaning. But deep down, deep down inside, they knew they had no life, they knew they were just existing, with no hope of better days ahead.

But admitting that is too painful, so they seek escape in delusion and pretense. They need delusion and pretense to get through each day, like a junkie needs a fix. They've become addicted to unreality, addicted to pretense, addicted to delusion. The government and the corporate media feed that addiction, and keep feeding it, and keep feeding it, with a never ending supply of narcotic spin, narcotic photo ops, narcotic neocon crack for the addicts. They get their fix every day, they smoke that crack with O'Reilly and Limbaugh, they smoke it with Hannity and Hume, they smoke it with the Crack House Press Corps, they smoke it with Bush and Cheney, the drug lords of unreality.

Shannon and I feel alone, we are alone, in a nation of 300 million people, only a handful of Americans are publicly protesting. We participate in the protests here in D.C., but only a few hundred people show up, sometimes a few thousand. Those protests are ignored, except by the police.

When I got home I was still restless, I can't take much more of this, someone has to do something. I heard the radio playing in our bedroom, walked down the hall, and stood in the doorway, too agitated to sit down. "When is someone going to take a stand, Shannon? A real stand? When is someone going to confront George W. Bush? When is someone going to call him out and get in his face?"

"Jericho . . ."

"Enough is enough. Someone's got to do something. Something the media can't ignore, something dramatic."

"Jericho . . ."

"Something no one's ever thought of before, something no one's ever done before, something that'll grab this country's attention. Someone's got to do that."

"Someone is, Jericho."

"I'm about ready to . . ." I finally noticed the suitcases on the bed, Shannon was packing. "What's going on . . . why are you packing? Are we going somewhere?"

"We are, as soon as we can book a flight."

"To where?"

"To Texas. A woman from California has gone to Bush's ranch, Jericho, she's demanding to see him, she says she's not going to leave until he tells her why her son was killed in Iraq." There was fire in Shannon's eyes. "She's going to take a stand, for her son, for all our soldiers, for all of us. Her name is Cindy Sheehan, she's had enough, she's going to take a stand, and we're going to take a stand with her."

Walking across Wisconsin, witnessing against war

xofferson — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:14:08 GMT

In some ways, much of Kathy Kelly's adult life has been a walk against war. So it was completely in character for her to be walking through Milwaukee Monday, on a 450-mile trek to St. Paul and the Republican national convention.

Kelly, (left) a high school and community college teacher, has repeatedly risked her life and her freedom as an advocate for non-violence. She is now affiliated with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, based in her hometown of Chicago, which organized Witness Against War now making its way across Wisconsin.

A three-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work , Kelly is a longtime pacifist who refuses to pay war taxes. She's served prison time for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites and for crossing the line as part of an ongoing effort to close the School of the Americas, an Army military combat training school at Fort Benning, GA.

She helped initiate Voices in the Wilderness, a campaign which brought medicine and toys to Iraq in open violation of UN/US sanctions against Iraq. Voices in the Wilderness organized 70 delegations to visit Iraq in the period between 1996 and the beginning of "Shock and Awe" warfare in 2003. Kelly has been to Iraq 24 times since January 1996, when the campaign began.

In October 2002, Voices in the Wilderness declared their intent to remain in Baghdad, alongside Iraqi civilians, throughout a war they still hoped they could prevent. Kelly and the team stayed in Baghdad throughout the bombardment and invasion and maintained a household in Baghdad until March, 2004. During 2007, she spent five months in Amman, Jordan, living amongst Iraqis who've fled their homes and are seeking resettlement.
The 450 mile Witness Against War walk is a continuation of the effort to challenge and nonviolently resist our country's continuing war in and occupation of Iraq.

The walk left Chicago on July 12 and had logged 108 miles, nearly one-fourth of the total distance, when it left Milwaukee on Monday morning, after a potluck and program at the Friends Meeting House that drew more than 100 people on Sunday night.

The core group of walkers numbered eight on Monday (it's an accordion-like group that expands and shrinks as some members drop out to take care of personal business, then drop back in). An equal number of local folks joined them for the day and the 10-mile hike from Zeidler Park in downtown Milwaukee to the Unitarian Univeralist church across the Waukesha County line in suburban, conservative Brookfield.

The group included Kelly's co-workers at Voices for Creative Nonviolence. an Iraq veteran from Minnesota, a young woman from Sweden, Helene Hedberg (with mileage sign) who met Kelly at a human rights conference, and others who were attracted to the cause and were able to make the time commitment for much or all of the walk. They are joined every day by local supporters who want the war and occupation to end; in Milwaukee that included members of Peace Action, a staff member from Casa Maria, a Catholic Worker hospitality house, and one young man who just joined us as we walked along Wisconsin Avenue. (I'm hesitant to try to name too many names, because I didn't ask everyone and took few notes. The ones I do mention I'm sure of.)

Two television cameras, the local NBC and ABC affiliates, showed at Zeidler Park for a brief informal news conference before the walk kicked off, with a colorful bus, provided by the Anathoth community in Luck, WI. That is major media for antiwar event, as any organizer who's tried to get coverage will attest. Monday morning's daily paper carried a photo of the group with supporters who greeted them when they arrived on Sunday. But no story accompanied it, and no reporters went along for the day, although it seemed to me, as a former reporter and editor, that it would have offered enough grist for an interesting feature story or column.

To walk with them for a day is energizing. It offers a chance to walk with different people for a stretch at a time, hear some of their stories, and get an idea about what motivates them. That helps the time pass, and the walk moves at a pretty good clip of 2 to 2.5 miles an hour. Monday's walk took five hours, including a lunch stop (Subway box lunches and healthy snacks) along the road.

Paul Melling, the Iraq veteran, (pictured giving his feet a break at the end of the day) has just finished an associate degree in computer networking at a St. Cloud, MN technical college and decided to do the seven-week walk before starting a new job. He spent 14 months in Iraq as an artillery crew member, in 2004-05. Melling said he was somewhat conflicted for a time about whether to speak out on the war while others were still fighting it, but decided the best way to support those troops still in Iraq is to work to get them home.

Unfortunately, Melling was taking a break in the bus to prepare a talk he was to give that night when we encountered an Army recruiter on Blue Mound Road, who pulled across the crosswalk and confronted our small band of sign-carriers. He challenged us on whether any of us had served, so I stepped forward, wearing my Vietnam Veterans Against the War T-shirt, and assured him there were some veterans in the group. He said he was an Afghanistan vet and said what we were doing was undermining the troops. The US military is in Iraq to keep the Iraqi sects from killing each other, he said -- seemingly unaware, as we pointed out, that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died because we are there. After he threatened to break my camera if I took a photo, I put him down as unpersuadable and let others take up the debate. (I had signed a non-violence pledge in order to join the walk, and tend to be nonviolent by nature anyway, although it was tempting to take another photo and see what developed. Maybe we would have actually made the newspaper; violence seems to get covered. He apparently didn't know I had already taken the one that appears here.)

Other than that, the walk was uneventful, although the walkers got a nice reception from a group awaiting them at Marquette. All of the walkers carried signs, whch promoted some friendly horn-blowing, waves and yells of encouragement from drivers along Wisconsin Avenue, Blue Mound Road, Highway 100 and North Avenue. The Chicago crew also leafleted when there was an opportunity.

The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, a statewide coalition of local organizations, is helping coordinate the walk and find lodging and meals and arrange programs along the route.

Anyone's welcome to join the walk for a day or more if you can. There are some stretches across rural Wisconsin where there may not be any organized groups, so company and support might be especially welcome. Here's the schedule for the rest of July:

7/22 Tues 7 pm Witness Against War - The Iraqi Refugee Crisis - Waukesha. 1st Congregational Church, 100 E. Broadway. Contact: Judith Williams of the Waukesha Catholic Worker House at 262-524-8278.

7/24 Thurs 5:30 - 8:15 pm 'Witness Against War' speaks at 'Democrats of Jefferson County' Picnic - Lake Mills. Commons Park in downtown; Main and Madison. Schedule: 5:30 pm ~~a kids parade around the park, 6 pm~~ dinner, 7-8:15 speakers, including Jeff Leys of Voices for Creative Nonviolence - followed by video cast of Obama speech. Contact: Anne Johnson amjlakemills(at)yahoo.com 608.576.0498 or Ray Murawski of the Watertown peace group.

7/27 Sun 8 am - 3 pm WITNESS TO WAR WALK- Madison.- We are inviting members of the community to join VCNV, walking 8 miles from Cottage Grove into Madison. The walk will end up at Olbrich Park. (early-morning car-pools for community walkers- leaving from Olbrich Park to Cottage Grove - at 8 am) Check out (www.wnpj.org ) for a form to sign from VCNV if you are interested in participating in the walk. Contact: Joy at jsfirst@tds.net

7/27 Sun 5 - 9 pm 'Witness Against War' - Dinner and Presentation by Kathy Kelly - Madison. St. Bernard's on Atwood Ave- Everyone welcome! Raging Grannies and Will and Dot Williams sing.....and more! Contact: Joy First at jsfirst@tds.net. WNPJ is co-hosting the event today - Contact info@wnpj.org o call 608-250-9240

7/28 Mon 12 noon SPECIAL Vigil for Peace with 'Witness Against War' - Madison. In front of the Post Office on MLK Blvd. Contact: Mary Beth Schlagheck at mbspeace1@charter.net .

7/29 Tues 3:30 - 5:30 pm Witness Against War - Waunakee. At the Village Park. There will be an informal conversation and/or a talk. A welcome of the marchers by concerned residents of Waunakee and surrounding towns would be most appreciated. For further information, contact Hildegard Dorrer, 608-849-4219

7/30 Wed 3:30 - 4 pm (flexible - when the Walkers arrive) WAW Vigil with Women in Black - Sauk City. Meet on the Bridge. We gather to silently mourn ALL that is lost to war - wherever this occurs. We stand in solidarity with those throughout the world who suffer from oppression, violence, and injustice. Contact - Mary Ann Novascone at noasca@verizon.net

7/30 Wed 7 pm Spaghetti Dinner with the WAW Walkers - Sauk City. At Park Hall, 307 Polk Street. www.freecongregation.org. Bring a dish to share. Contact: Maggie McGlone at msmcglone@verizon.net or Sally Dahir at sdahir@chorus.net

And here is the map and schedule for the whole thing.

Call and Response in Kafka Kountry

geomoo — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:47:35 GMT

I recently expressed a limited criticism of points made in an essay. When I began receiving responses which twisted my words or mischaracterized me, I made a decision and set up an algorithm for myself: I would keep responding so long as my words were twisted or I was left with an insult or a mischaracterization of any kind. I tried not to escalate, just defend. And I would end with anyone who stopped with a neutral remark, such as let's just drop this or this is going nowhere. From that simple position, it became clear that unless I allowed an inaccurate statement to stand, the discussion would continue to escalate indefinitely. The longer I stuck around, the higher the stakes became and the more I was demonized, until two other essays were born, apparently for little other reason than to demonize the person who would not back down. It was disorienting in the extreme to wander into two essays based on the false premise that 1) I didn't want a certain person on the site and 2) I simply refuse stubbornly to learn. Starting from that extreme misrepresentation, hundreds of words were written, many high-minded notions expressed, all kinds of brilliant theories expounded. It was truly Kafkaesque. Seeing so many people buy in and participate in what was, more than anything, a trashing of me, has been disappointing but informative.

I offer the following as a mere record. I don't expect movement, I don't expect anything to change. Please don't express sympathy for my feelings or ask me to stay. I'm not looking for that. I take responsibility for my choices, and I chose to behave in a way that has brought me to this point. I am not complaining, I am not putting anyone down, I am recording how the experience looked and felt to me. In the end, this was a lot closer to Alice's Wonderland than anything I have ever experienced. By a long shot.
C: Wise's quote seems excessive in places.
R: Wrong. It's not excessive.

C: It is excessive in criticizing watching Leave it to Beaver.
R: Wrong. I don't see where it criticizes watching Leave it to Beaver.

C: It claims that being moved by Leave it to Beaver is slapping colored people (sic) in the face and calling their concerns unworthy.
R: Wrong. It just says that Leave it to Beaver was inaccurate.

C: Here is precisely what it says word for word.
R: I think Leave it to Beaver was a cute show.

C: You may think it is cute, but the author does not.
R: Wrong. He was just saying it wasn't accurate.

C: He said it was inaccurate and also said finding it moving was a slap in the face to colored people (sic).
R: We've been debating this a long time with no movement on either side. It's time to quit.

C: I agree with most of what is said here, but here are some aspects I find troubling.
R: Wrong. I disagree with everything you have said here and here's how.

C: I made clear I was not making the claims you ascribe to me, more than once, in my original comment.
R: Is there any way in which you agree with the author?

C: I said I agree with most of what he said.
R: In what ways do you agree with the author?

C: Here is a painstakingly detailed account of everything the author side that I agree with, including parts I disagree with only in one way.
R: Okay, I'm glad you agree with those parts. I'm not going to respond to your original concerns.

C: I guess I'm asking for a little more focus on healing.
R: Wrong. Every healer alive knows there can be no healing without first having truth.

C: I'm just asking for a little more focus on healing, not that truth be ignored.
R: Wrong. There can be no healing without first having truth.

C: Yes, I'm saying to include the truth but focus more on the healing.
R: Wrong. I know you are saying to include the truth, but I'm saying to focus more on the healing.

C: It feels as though you're not responding to what I'm saying.
R: Wrong. This is just a minor disagreement and you have blown it all out of proportion.

C: Have you ever seen accusatory truth without the presence of healing lead to progress?
R: Yes, many times.

C: I seriously doubt that healing can ever occur from the presence of accusatory truth alone.
R: I had the experience of creating healing in a particular situation I was in. You could learn from it. Read this essay.

C: Surely there was healing energy present also.
R: You are wrong to respond to me in generalities. I'm speaking of a specific situation.

C: That sounds hard for you. Perhaps it was useful in some way?
R: Wrong. It was not useful in the way you say and you need to learn the reasons why.

C: I think that, instead of discussing my idea, you are dismissing its very worth. Are you really saying this?
R: Listen to this detailed experience of mine. How could your idea possibly have any worth?

C: Do you think it possible for you to acknowledge any value at all in anything I say?
R: I see no value at all in anything you say. I'm not reading all your comments. I'm not responding to your questions. Did you read my essay?

C: I feel you are not valuing my words.
R: I don't feel I'm being treated as an individual.

C: I'm sorry if I'm not treating you well. Here's is exactly where I don't feel listened to.
R: I'm not disrespecting your words, just not bothering to read them all. I am hurt that you didn't read my essay.

C: It feels insulting to have my words twisted into new meanings, then dismissed.
R: I dismiss your demand for me to agree with everything you say.

C: This feels insulting to me.
R: You're insulting me.

C: I am upset by how someone is being treated.
R: Why do you only care about the feelings of one person? You are a hypocrite.

C: I am against making someone wrong by twisting their words.
R: You are wrong to say no one has the right to use the word "wrong." And hypocritical because you are calling others wrong. Why are you the only person who counts?

C: I insist that you respond to what I say instead of making up things I said.
R: You are angry. You only care about your own feelings.

C: Yes, I am angry because you are putting words in my mouth.
R: I am angry, too, and I refuse to care about your feelings until you stop caring about the feelings of only a couple of people.

C: People are trying to tell you something. Please see if you can allow some shred of credibility to their words.
R: People are trying to tell you something.

C: This look likes an old-fashioned Mexican standoff.
R: This is not an old-fashioned Mexican standoff.

C: It is crazy-making to be called nothing but wrong repeatedly by several people.
R: Will you own then that you have been the crazy one here?

C: What has happened is a complete blow-up manufactured from unfounded accusations.
R: Some people do things one way, others do them another.

For most white folks, indignation just doesn't wear well. Once affected or conjured up, it reminds one of a pudgy man, wearing a tie that may well have fit him when he was fifty pounds lighter, but which now cuts off somewhere above his navel and makes him look like an idiot. Tim Wise

Real News: Who Is The Real Obama? (3 Short Videos)

Edger — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:27:12 GMT

June 11, 2008 - Will The Real Obama Please Stand Up?
Aijaz Ahmad: Obama's economic speech - Will Obama shift the economy away from big oil and arms?
With the democratic nomination under his belt, Senator Obama is riding high on invigorated public support. The task of effectively distinguishing himself from Senator McCain now lies ahead of him. Senior News Analyst Aijaz Ahmad explained to the Real News Network's Senior Editor Paul Jay that while Obama's candidacy itself is historic, Obama will still have to show the US public whether he will concentrate on bolstering the economy, or will, like McCain, prioritize oil/ military spending.

June 12, 2008 - Why does Murdoch support Obama?
Aijaz Ahmad: Obama proposes productive economy; Murdoch supports Obama
Senator Obama began a two-week long national tour on Monday to explain his economic agenda. He accuses the Republicans of overspending on the Iraq war and for a policy of corporate handouts. Instead, he is promising to rebuild America's decaying infrastructure and health and education systems. Senior News Analyst Aijaz Ahmad comments on Obama's project.

>
June 15, 2008 - Will Obama take on the oil companies?
Aijaz Ahmad: Will the real Obama please stand up?
In his recently delivered economic policy speech, Senator Barack Obama said a windfall tax on big oil as well as a "green economy for energy" will be key in addressing a rapidly rising cost of living. Senior News Analyst Aijaz Ahmad explains what these policies are likely to accomplish, and argues that Obama has only started to flesh out his thinking on economic policy.

They are all our children

NLinStPaul — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:15:05 GMT

This is going to be an essay about racism. So if you'd rather not read about that subject or discuss it, I'd suggest you check out the other fine essays on this blog.

It has, however, been suggested that those of us for whom this is an important topic should just move over. I wanted to share some of my personal and professional experience to explain why I won't do that.

One of the many reasons I loved Molly Ivins is that we shared some significant things in terms of our background. Both of us were raised in East Texas. One of the first things I ever read of Molly's was an article in Ms. Magazine about her journey out of dysfunctional conservatism (sorry, no link. I've looked and can't find it online). Molly said that as a child, she was told to drink only out of the public water fountain labeled for "whites" because the one for "coloreds" was dirty. In all her childhood innocence, she noticed that the colored water fountain was actually cleaner due to lack of use. It was as a result of this kind of experience that she saw, for the first time, that she was being lied to. Recognizing racism was the beginning of opening her eyes to the way the world really works.

I had a similar experience while going to a conservative christian college with very few black students. I was blessed to be befriended by one of the only African American women attending the school. One day, as we were walking across campus, she said, "Sometimes I just get sooo tired of only seeing white faces around here." It was like someone hit me over the head with a brick. That was the first time I caught a glimpse of what the world looks like through black eyes and I've been curious about it ever since. It was my journey to understand racism that eventually opened my eyes to the political and religious lies I had been told all my life.
Thirty years later, I find myself the director of a non-profit organization whose mission is "To work with families and the community to re-direct youth who are starting to get in trouble at home, at school, or with the law." Its been interesting over the years what happens when we drill down on that mission and work to improve our efforts to fulfill what it says. Everywhere we turn, we run into racism as a contributing factor.

As an example, we work with middle schools and libraries in this community who are increasingly turning to law enforcement to deal with behavior challenges from young people. As we work with the mostly white staff in these institutions, what we find is that there are significant differences between how they react to the behavior of children of color and how they would want their own children to be treated. What is at the heart of this difference is fear. Most of us who have grown up in this culture have internalized the fear messages that are fed to us on an almost daily basis - especially about males of color.

I mentioned previously that one of our State Supreme Court Justices asked all of us to consider why a face like this provokes compassion

when all to often only a few years later it provokes fear.

I don't have the time or the knowledge to describe how this fear gets embedded into us. But if you doubt that it does, I'd suggest a visit to Project Implicit, a Harvard study that can give you some pretty immediate feedback on the differences between what we are conscious and unconscious of in our reactions to a variety of differences. None of this is to say that those of us who harbor these fears are bad, evil or anything else. They are a direct result of growing up in this culture. It is our lack of awareness about how they impact our behavior that is the problem.

What we see as we work with schools and libraries is that staff are often afraid of and/or intimidated by the behavior of African American young people in a way that they would not be if the young person were white. So, rather than deal with it, they avoid the behavior until it escalates and then they call the police. Research has shown that the younger a person is when they have their first contact with law enforcement, the more likely they are to become engaged in ongoing criminal behavior. So this kind of reaction to African American boys is one of many reasons why they have a one in three chance of spending time in prison. The New York ACLU has begun to notice this trend and has published a report titled Criminalizing the Classroom.

This same kind of fear is something that Obama talked about in his speech about race when he relayed how hard it was for him as a young man to see it in his own grandmother. In talking about why he could not disown Reverend Wright, he says,

I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street...

As far as I can see, it is this fear that winds up costing so many lives and dollars in the prison industrial complex...because we forget that they are all our children. But it is this same fear that Lou Dobbs exploits almost daily to scare people into thinking its ok to disregard human rights when dealing with undocumented workers. And its the same fear that Bushco exploited when 19 young Muslim men flew planes into the World Trade Center. Not only did racial profiling of brown people become standard practice (of course there were no such policies following the Oklahoma City bombing), but eventually it led to a war of aggression against "brown people" (no matter if we got the country wrong) who we had been told to be afraid of.

So yes, racism is a big issue to me. Until we begin to recognize the way we've been taught to fear the "other," those fears will be exploited in ways that are unjust to the others, and eventually dangerous to us.

Laying the groundwork

wolverine06 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:27:43 GMT

In order to grok the future, it is necessary to understand the present and remember the past. In order to influence the future, strategies must be emplaced. This is my attempt to bring the docudharma nation to concensus of understanding.

feline wrote

Apparently, something is more important to members of Congress
Submitted by feline on July 17, 2008 - 9:57am.
than public opinion; more important than the U.S. Constitution, the treaties of the Geneva Conventions, and the Principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal; more important than truth, justice, accountability, restoration of the rule of law. It's something so terribly important that the opinions of the United Nations, the International Red Cross, retired generals, veterans and enlisted military personnel, the intelligence community, imbedded journalists, victims' families, judges, constitutional and international legal scholars, psychiatrists, etc. are basically obsolete. Something is more important than our civil liberties, real national security, a stable domestic infrastructure, and diplomatic foreign policy.
Providing immunity to violators of the law and perpetrators of obstruction is more important than any of our opinions.

It is intriguing to consider what is more important to Congress.

If it is loyalty to party, then why continue to aid and abet the criminality by handing them everything they ask for: approving billions and billions more in appropriations for the occupation of Iraq when they promised they would end the war (It was priority #1) ; The military commissions act; the newest unconstitutional FISA bill; the approval of Mukaskey as Attorney General; etc?

When we elected a democratic majority house, I thought that at least we could stop losing ground. But that didn't occur. Instead we got we can't pass this and we can't pass that.....we don't have a veto proof majority. When they got a majority of both houses of Congress, the whining we hear about the inability to pass good legislation made no sense. However, the plan does make sense only if you have a majority in the House and not the Senate.

So again I ask, "If you have a majority in both houses why do you still pass bad legislation rather than no legislation?" They want a share of the power and assume that by allowing the Republicans to implode, they will win by default. But because they stuck with the same plan anyway, they are stupid. And they think we are stupider.

Well let me tell you, the neocons and the media are going to treat this Democratic President like they did Jimmy Carter. They are going to crucify him every chance they get. If you look at recent history and the lessons learned from Nixon, after Carter we got 12 years of Republican Presidents. That is what they want. They want total control from 2013 to 2025 and beyond. They will control the use and distribution of energy to set themselves up as kings.

The Olduvai Theory

The Olduvai Theory states that the life
expectancy of industrial civilization is approximately
100 years: circa 1930-2030.
Seven intervals: 1) From 1930 to 1945 e shows
irregular growth during the Great Depression and
World War II.8 2) The strong growth from 1945 to
1970 correlates with the strong growth in world oil and
natural gas production. 3) The slowing growth of e
from 1970 to 1979 reflects slackening oil production.
4) The rugged Plateau from 1979 to 2003 shows that
energy production ran neck-in-neck with population
growth. 5) The Brink from 2004 to circa 2008
represents the energy industry*s struggle to keep up
with rising demand. 6) The Olduvai Cliff from circa
2008 to 2030 correlates with a spreading epidemic of
permanent blackouts. 7) From 2030 onward society
approaches the agrarian level of existence.

The rules are changing.....back. Did you know there is a worldwide hunger crisis going on right now. How can that be when 2007 was the year humans produced the most food ever? Maybe there is something more fundamental going on.

World Energy and Population: the Basis
During the last two centuries we have known
nothing but exponential growth and in parallel
we have evolved what amounts to an
exponential-growth culture, a culture so heavily
dependent upon the continuance of exponential
growth for its stability that it is incapable of
reckoning with problems of no growth. (M. King
Hubbert, 1976, p. 84).

A population crash is coming and chaos will ensue. Rather then find solutions to the predicted coming chaos, they selfishly welcome it.

WORLD POPULATION SCENARIOS
The resource wars will run their courses, and
populations will crash. The journey back to
'natural* levels of world population will not be
a joyous one. Have policy-makers begun to
grasp the scale of the problem that confronts
them? Are they still dazzled by the contention that
rates of increase are slowing, not grasping that all
the time the numbers are mounting up?

Only there is a big hole in your plans. When the oil runs out for us, it will run out for your Army and ~~Air Force~~ Bureau of Weather Control. Also in other countries, Wind and solar power are delivering higher then expected returns. Some are already over 15% of their total national consumption from these sources alone. Looks like they might have a chance to survive.