January 22, 2009 archive

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

Tunnel

Shiny Objects

Words arrive

at the edge

of consciousness

searching for

meaning, rhythm

and grace

Visual emphasis

focuses

the mind

and heart

connecting

to the words

through what is seen

and what is not

Words are spilled

one life’s blood

hoping a gatherer

happens to pass

this way

The thoughts

are moderately

decorated

into a shiny object

to attract

attention

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–May 29, 2008

Late Night Karaoke

Nikai Thursday

The Kinks – Lola

(Update) 3 Steps to Help Leonard Peltier (Peltier Attacked)

Three things that you can do right now to help Leonard Peltier are these. One, read Brenda Norrell’s article “Leonard Peltier attacked: Appeal to Attorney General.Two, get furious. And three…

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Copy and paste part of her article.

The Pertinent Case of Julius Streicher



Julius Streicher, Publisher of Der Stürmer

As U.S. senators such as  

Obama and the New Terrain of Battle, Part 1: Green Light

This is the first part of an ungodly long piece I posted during the actual inauguration over at Fire on the Mountain. I have decided to trim it a little and post it in three parts, today, tomorrow and Friday, in the hopes that more folks will read it. I may even put it up at Daily Kos, though I can’t imagine that it will be well received there.

With Barack Hussein Obama making history and a wave of optimism engulfing the country, it is a good time to review what faces us ahead. I want to flag three features of the road we are heading down over the coming months.

   * First, there is a green light for struggle to advance on many fronts.

   * Second, the anti-war movement, by contrast, faces a huge roadblock to moving forward.

   * Third, as far as the economy goes, the bridge is collapsing and we are on it.

A Green Light for Struggle

Since November 4, there has been a dramatic uptick in popular struggle in this country. The election of Barack Obama, and the massive mobilization of people from all parts of the US and all sectors of society that made it possible, have created a vastly different terrain of battle than that of the last 8 years. Last month, I heard “Si Se Puede” and even “Yes We Can” chants rising from within a crowd of hundreds of SDSers and other serious young militants mobilized to defend college students who were carrying out an occupation (overall successful) of the New School in NYC.

The emotional highlight of the last few months has been the victory won by another occupation. Union workers at the about-to-close Republic Windows & Doors plant in Chicago seized control of their factory and won nationwide sympathy, including a statement by President-elect Obama affirming the righteousness of their cause and ignoring the illegality of their tactics. When they won their demands, the UE members left the plant chanting, yep, “Si Se Puede” and “Yes We Can.”

Now a wave of protest against the police murder of a young Black man, erupting at times into outright rebellion, has shaken Oakland, CA. Police departments across the country are reviewing their “deadly force” policies and training–and updating their riot preparedness plans.

Any one of these can be dismissed by the cynical as an isolated particular. Let me instead suggest a look at the broadest protest movement which has broken out since the election–the battle which followed the passage of California’s anti-gay-marriage Proposition 8. This ballot initiative, a little gem of rancid bigotry, not only denied same-sex couples the right to wed, but even officially “un-married” tens of thousands of lesbian and gay Californians. It was hands-down the biggest bummer of Election Night, 2008.

But look at what has ensued!

First, there were a couple of weeks of near-spontaneous demonstrations, pulled together by email, instant message and Twitter. Often thousands strong, they reached all 50 states. Many protesters quickly–and correctly–identified and focused on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) as the main target. Rallies took place in front of Mormon temples not only across California and in other modern-day Sodoms like NYC but even at LDS Central in Salt Lake City.

The effect has been profound. The demonstrations gave rise to an incredible cultural flowering in defense of gay marriage, from the movie-star-laden YouTube micro-musical “Prop 8: The Musical” (starring Jack Black as Jesus) to the tongue-in-cheek petition drive launched in Princeton, NJ for an initiative forbidding Princeton freshmen to walk on town and campus sidewalks.

Major media outlets and think tanks undertook investigations which showed that, just as protesters charged, LDS money and machinations were at the center of the Prop 8 campaign. Boycotts of tourism in Utah and of Mormon firms, as well as other businesses run by Prop 8 backers, are underway. Members have quit the church or spoken out publicly against its embrace of bias.

On the political front, Obama has felt the heat, especially after his inaugural invitation to Prop 8 supporter Rev. Rick Warren triggered a spasm of revulsion even among his loyalists. One response to the pressure has been his unexpected and unequivocal pledge to move rapidly to end the Armed Force’s homophobic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

To grasp the new mood of struggle, try and imagine the scene if Proposition 8 had passed during the grim 2000 or 2004 elections. The anger would have been swamped in the overall angst and depression. The flowering of protest and culture would never have taken place. Most important, we would not have the current mood, the overwhelming optimism that the passage of Prop 8 is just a bump in the road which will soon be behind us.

Sen. Schumer’s Not So Hidden Agenda

 

Sen. Chuck Schumer wants a more activist federal government.

“You look at just about every policy difference between Obama and McCain,” he said. “Underlying it was a more active government.”

The senior senator from New York is profiled in the January/February 2009 issue of The Atlantic. In “The Man in the Middle“, Joshua Green writes of the November 2008 interviews he had with Sen. Schumer, focusing upon how the senator defines the American middle class and the challenges they face. He believes helping the middle class will be the vital to fixing our country, carrying out President Obama’s policies, and building the Democratic Party.

First, who are middle class Americans?

Sen. Schumer believes that federal programs that target families making the U.S. median household income of $48,000 or below means these programs do not reach middle class. The median-household-income static does not factor, for example, age or geography. Most Democrats, according to the article, see the middle class families as resting in an income range between $60,000 and $100,000.

Freedom of Information Returns

While alot of the focus of the media has been about the Executive Orders President Obama signed today about Presidential Records and Ethics, not much attention has been paid to the fact that he also reversed the restrictions on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) instituted by former Attorney General Ashcroft in 2001.

You can find the memo from Obama here (pdf), but I’ll copy the whole thing below the fold.  

Breaking: Russell Tice states “ALL” communications monitored

I’m watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Russell Tice, former NSA analyst, is giving an exclusive interview…

Unpatriotic Traitor Rush Limbaugh Hates America

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“I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don’t want them to succeed.”

                                              “I Hope Obama Fails”

                       

                     

“I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don’t want them to succeed.”

                                              “I Hope Obama Fails”

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Re-establishing the Law

I say re-establishing because there is presently no rule of law.  I mean that literally.  I don’t know what rules now in our country, but it is not the law.  There are people with power and other people who have no power and are therefore subject to the authoritarian political and police structure we now have in place.

There is no law which covers all equally.  Nor are there any laws now which protect all equally.  At this moment, if those in authority wish, they can act against us in a way where we are not protected by the law — but they are, of course … they are.  If we whistle blow they will have the protection of all the lawyers they wish and no doubt many judges.

There are many arguments from my fellow liberals who oppose prosecuting those who have committed torture by their authority, if not at their own hands.  The political argument is especially revolting, but I am not writing about that tonight.

The argument I’m referring to is viewing this struggle as motivated by revenge.

Lily Tomlin Pony Party

Obama’s Executive Orders on Guantanamo & the Question of Prosecutions

+++ Update: Here’s a link to the draft executive order’s text +++

Like attacking a hydra with many heads, the new administration is planning to take its first whacks at the torture regime set up by the Bush Administration. It’s most infamous manifestation lies 90 miles off the U.S. coast at Guantanamo Naval Base, Cuba.

Today, the government ordered a 120-day suspension of the military tribunal hearings of the Guantanamo detainees, as well as lesser delays in habeas hearings filed by attorneys on behalf of some of the prisoners.

Now, breaking news reported at ABC News, reports that tomorrow we will see three executive orders issued by President Obama aimed at the closure of Guantanamo “within a year”, and promising immediate changes in the procedures and policies surrounding interrogation of detainees, and the conditions of their detention.

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