October 2008 archive

Laurie Arbeiter is this tiny little dynamo of a woman, a serious peace activist who is one of the main forces behind a loose collective of (mostly) NYC based activists called The Critical Voice. The hallmark of their activism is a message delivered in stark black and white, bold statements and bold fonts.  

Ten little Indians

One little, two little, three little Indians

Four little, five little, six little Indians

Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians

Ten little Indian boys.

Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians

Seven little, six little, five little Indians

Four little, three little, two little Indians

One little Indian boy.

Original article, by Joshua Frank and subtitled What Happens After Election Day?, via counterpunch.com:

Unless John McCain has a bombshell of a scandal to drop on Barack Obama at the 11th hour, this election is beginning to look like it’s in the bag for the Democrats. The Republicans will finally be kicked out of the White House and peace and calm will slowly return to Washington.

On the national Vets for Peace list, a gentleman sent out a notice that Washington DC was instituting random subway searches on it’s Metro Line. He sent out a plea for ways to discourage this behavior and hopefully end it, and specifically asked for advice from the people who travel on New York City public transit systems. I am still furious about the policy that went into effect on July 22, 2005 mandating that all travellers on MTA and LIRR transit would be subject to random search of their bags by police, and this was my response:

The ACLU pushed back very hard in NYC and I have not seen anyone searched or stopped in a long time. They instructed people to collect data on the police as part of the pushback: officer’s names, badge numbers, asking them what their probable cause was, exact data on what was searched, search location, were other people being stopped, and whether racial or religious profiling appeared to be taking place.

A lot can be accomplished when you turn the tables in this manner. It’s something best done in person, but sometimes it works online too.

Reservists Face Rocky Return In Job Market

60 Minutes Report Also Examines Costs Borne By Employers Of Deployed Citizen Soldiers

Lesley Stahl could only talk to some of the thousands of reservists and guardsmen who have returned from active duty to find problems with their employers over their jobs.

The rest can call the assistant secretary of defense directly to complain after he broadcasts his phone number during her 60 Minutes report this Sunday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Part One

All visions have to start somewhere, and since this is a vision of how to get from where we are to where we want to be, I will start this one with where we are. We are starting a new century, for one thing. Though we have certainly not started it well. Unless of course we realize that in order for a new world to be created, the old one must be ‘destroyed’ to make way for it. In which case, George Bush and the Republicans (past and present) have done a simply bang up job of starting the century right by ‘destroying’ nearly every aspect of the old, American dominated world, by destroying nearly every aspect of the structure of America . They have destroyed our economy, which once led the world. They have overstretched and destroyed our military might, which once ruled the world. They have destroyed America’s moral reputation, which once the world looked up to. They and their cohorts at Fox News have destroyed American journalism and any notion of a truthful and “free” press. They have destroyed our educational system and decimated the notion that we are technological world leaders. They have destroyed infrastructure through neglect, using the moneys for it in their destructive war. In addition to attempting to destroy the very concept of  science, they have destroyed, or tried to destroy, the concept of environmental protection. They have destroyed eight of the precious years we had to fight Climate Crisis. In fact about the only thing they have not destroyed are the industries and services geared towards serving the very wealthy, Ferrari dealerships, for instance, are doing very well!

In the construction industry, when a structure has suffered major damage, as the structures of America have under the “stewardship” of the Republicans, you are faced with a choice. You can rebuild the structure as it was….or you can build a new structure in its place, on the remains of whatever parts of the foundation are still solid.

When it is obvious, as it is now, that the structure collapsed of its own weight, because of bad design or ill-thought out additions, the answer becomes obvious. Build a new, more sound structure.