Waging Peace In the Middle East by Hitting Them Where It Counts

"If those were my kids? I'd put 'em on a frickin'(sp) time-out and take away their frickin' allowance."

The Alaska Pipeline delivers approximately 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, which is roughly half of America's daily consumption.

The other half we buy from the Middle East, and much of that oil is coming from our long-time and current enemies, like Iraq. (But, in all honesty: do we ever really know who our enemies are?)

We are paying them good U.S. greenbacks, which they are turning around and using to fund bio-chemical research, pay for tanks, planes, guns, bullets, and all those other fun, pesky, weapons of mass destruction.

This means: if we can figure out simple ways to reduce our dependence on oil by half and implementing these techniques into our daily lives, we could conceivably, painlessly ---end our economic-based relationship with our enemies.

I decided to take action, starting today.

Here is my Top Ten list of ways our household is going to try and bankrupt the enemy:

1. Schedule errands, dr.'s visits, and shopping trips to town on the same day, using the same vehicle, only once a week. Remember mandatory mid-day pit stop to refuel on a burger and a beer.

2. Switch to synthetic oil, keep vehicles tuned up for better mileage.

3. Bicycle, motorcycle during summer. (Gee, do I have to?)

4. Invest in hybrid electric car for the rest of the year (for me,) esp. when it gets down to -50. That number again is: minus 50. Below zero. Farenheit.

5. Save petroleum-based plastic bags from store; reuse till they disintegrate and fruit is escaping down driveway.

6. Turn down thermostat, put on sweats.

7. Fix broken stuff where heat leaks out.

8. Use mocha java latte money to buy municipal bonds: help build natural gas pipeline to North Slope.

(OK, this one isn't for everyone, but it will provide over half of Alaska residents with an alternative heating source, reducing the state's heating fuel consumption by half. See how easy this is, once you get going?)

9. Write board of directors of local electric power supplier to ask:
How's it going with that windmill turbine suggestion I made 10 years ago?

(At the end of our journey, moving up here, wind blew all my tupperware down the highway.)

10. Whenever possible? BUY GREEN, by limiting the purchase of products in plastic containers.

Unless it's milk. Then, you'd want to look for that waxed cardboard stuff. But not the recycled cardboard; you know, just the regular stuff.

I welcome any other suggestions! Kate S.

The Truth Shall Make You Sick.

This is a true report . It's the truth about how Americans fight a war that all those so-called pro-war patriots don't want to believe.

Here's a teaser:
Across the square, genuine civilians were running for their lives. Many, including some children, were gunned down in the crossfire.

'The Iraqis are sick people and we are the chemotherapy,' said Corporal Ryan Dupre.' I am starting to hate this country. Wait till I get hold of a friggin' Iraqi. No, I won't get hold of one. I'll just kill him.'

Amid the wreckage I counted 12 dead civilians, lying in the road or in nearby ditches. All had been trying to leave this southern town overnight, probably for fear of being killed by US helicopter attacks and heavy artillery. Their mistake had been to flee over a bridge that is crucial to the coalition's supply lines and to run into a group of shell-shocked young American marines with orders to shoot anything that moved. One man's body was still in flames. It gave out a hissing sound. Tucked away in his breast pocket, thick wads of banknotes were turning to ashes. His savings, perhaps.

Just imagine if all this were being done here, in America, to us. Yet, there are our "boys," doing it, doing it to other innocents -- becoming the evil that we so despise. War. What the hell did you think it would be like!

Voices of Peace.

Thank you Bunny Otter and Natalie Davis for the two previous posts. As our futures spin out of our control, all each of us can do is live our individual lives according to our commitment to creating peace. Unless, of course, we don't believe that creating peace is the only viable way to survive -- and there are Americans as well as Iraquis who don't. But, as you both pointed out, there are also many who do.

Natalie's friend Kara in Iraq asks a very very relevant question: ...if Iraqis had bombed our town, destroying our hospital, would we treat them with the same love and care? Or would we beat them to death in anger? I think we know that some Americans would do one and some the other. And so it is with people all over the world.

The Real Heroes

These are, of course, the people we really should pray for: the innocents of Iraq and the volunteer human shields and humanitarian workers in Baghdad to lend a helping hand. As has been reported, my friend and Soulforce colleague Kara Speltz has been in Iraq to work with Christian Peacemaker Teams. She is out of the country now; the Iraqi government demanded that a number of the peace makers leave Iraq. Here is Kara's report from Amman, Jordan:

We're back from Baghdad; five of our team stayed on and four have returned to carry the truth about this war to the American press and people. The trip to and from Baghdad was harrowing to say the least.

On our trip into Iraq, we crossed front lines twice. There were many burned cars, buses and trucks as we traveled. About 150 kilometers from Baghdad, we came upon a truck on fire. We slowed down and saw American troops on the hill above. They had their guns trained on us and motioned for us to stop. We did and waved white flags. Eventually they motioned us in the first car to continue on. The second van was still at the site and we waited for them to start up, but before they could, 4 Iraqi soldiers started running for the van, the Americans motioned for the second van to take off but the Iraqis were nearly up to the van. The van was able to get away, but as we watched from the first van, it looked like the Iraqis might actually catch up to them. We continued on past the Americans and shortly thereafter a station wagon passed us with its back windows shot out. We learned from them that they had not slowed down and the Americans had shot at them. We then came to an Iraqi checkpoint and were worried that some of the soldiers might consider confiscating our vehicle, but they waved us past, after reading the statement we had written in English and Arabic. The statement read:

"I am a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams. We are against the war and all other forms of violence.

We are going to Baghdad to join other members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams who have been there, living among the Iraqi people since October. We wish to stay with them during this terrible war that is being waged against them.

We are trying to protect the Iraqi people and the institutions of health, welfare, and education that are important to life. We will visit
and support hospitals, water purification plnts, schools and orphanages.

We are with the Iraqi people because we know God loves them and weeps for them."

The looks on the faces of those who read our statement was one of awe and puzzlement. We arrived in Baghdad around 430 and got settled in at the hotel we were staying at. We met at 6 pm to worship together with the other members of the team who were already there. In the midst of the worship, the bombs began. Most were far off, but some felt near.

The bombing continued on and off during the entire time we were there. One of the most devasting things we learned was that the U.S. is using anti-personnel fragmentation weapons in Baghdad!!!!!! We visited a home and picked up several of the "pellets." Jim Douglass who is part of our CPT team, recognized them from his time in Vietnam.

We've met hundreds of Iraqis as we toured the bombing sights. Not one single person was anything but friendly and welcoming to us. It is difficult to sleep at night because of all the bombs. But amazingly, the Iraqis continue life, having birthday celebrations, planting seed, and just generally going on with life.

Because the Americans have destroyed all communications facilities, there now are no phones or emails out of Baghdad. The Iraqis, picked up six of our team members as they walked between the two hotels, but had stopped to see some of the latest damage from the bombing the night before. They were held for 6 hours and we had no idea where they were. Some of us feared they might have been picked up by hostile melitia forces who would hold them hostage. Finally, our "minder," the government official who was responsible for us, located them at a police station and was able to have them released.

The next day the 6 were given orders to leave Iraq. Since this was just a day prior to our planned return, and there was no telling when we might have an opportunity to leave, I asked to go with them. So 5 stayed and 4 of us left.

On our way back from Baghdad to Ammon, one of the cars we were traveling in had a blowout and ended up in a culvert. All 5 of them were injured, but our convoy was unaware until we got about a half hour away. Immediately Iraqi people stopped and transported our injured to the nearest town. This town had just endured severe bombing 4 days previous. The bombs had destroyed the hospital there along with a number of other buildings. But they brought them to the small building that was being used to replace the hospital and treated them with love and kindness, sharing the the few medical supplies they still had. I found myself wondering if the same thing had happened here in the states---if Iraqis had bombed our town, destroying our hospital, would we treat them with the same love and care? Or would we beat them to death in anger?

We are here in Amman, and leave on Tuesday for the states. But last night, as we drifted off to sleep, we could hear a B-52 bomber and each of us feared that the bombs would start dropping. Americans are being systematically lied to about this war, and I'm coming back to help spread the truth about this awful war that we are waging. Love Kara

Prayers and kind thoughts, please, for Kara's and her colleagues' safe return home. We would do well to listen to the stories and eyewitness accounts they will have to tell us -- theirs, unlike the Bushites', are the voices of truth.

Is this how we train our troops?? Shame, shame.

from this article in the NY Times:

They said Iraqi fighters had often mixed in with civilians from nearby villages, jumping out of houses and cars to shoot at them, and then often running away. The marines said they had little trouble dispatching their foes, most of whom they characterized as ill trained and cowardly.

"We had a great day," Sergeant Schrumpf said. "We killed a lot of people."

and

But more than once, Sergeant Schrumpf said, he faced a different choice: one Iraqi soldier standing among two or three civilians. He recalled one such incident, in which he and other men in his unit opened fire. He recalled watching one of the women standing near the Iraqi soldier go down.

"I'm sorry," the sergeant said. "But the chick was in the way."

This is why I don't get involved in "support the troops" stuff, even though I have relatives over there. I hope they, indeed, behave with more moral conscience, that they do not get killed or maimed; and I feel badly for all of them -- that they have allowed themselves to be duped by this government and brainwashed by soul-less military minds.

P.S. However, I am going to join my cousin's campaign to get all the relatives to send his Army daughter sets of cotton underwear. (Clean underwear is a rarity in the Iraqi desert.) And she can share what she doesn't wear. But that's the extent of my "support the troops." Clean underwear for my activated Reservist female second cousin.

NO HOSE!

Wed., April 23, 2003 is Executive Admin's Day (Secretary's Day). This day is in the middle of Administrative Assistants Week, which also features Earth Day (22nd). If you are a woman, please help social change by wearing no hose, heels, or skirts to work on April 23rd! Political and social reformer Jennifer Schulz Medlock urges all women to “get back to nature”. This is a voluntary protest effort against society’s old-fashioned expectations of women to wear nylons, high heels, and skirts, especially in business, and especially within big corporations. Leave your suffocating nylons at home, as well as those painful high heels, and replace your skirt with pants! Be comfortable, be natural, and take control! On Executive Admin's Day at least, we will not let powerful men dictate what we wear. Let’s show these men we can “wear the pants” and create a better world. We Can Do It!

Please forward this to as many women as you know.
http://nohose.blogspot.com/

Hi, my name is Kate and I am a new Blog Sister. My new blog is: klondikekatesaurora.blogspot.com

I have been a fan of the Blog Sisters for awhile.

I visit everyday because there is such a mixed bag of issues and styles, all written with compassion, humor and intelligence; I mean, you people talk about everything under the sun! I never know what I am going to be stumbling into when I log on each day, but I know that the content will always be intriguing.

For me, it's like Christmas, every morning.

Did I mention that I live in Alaska? Right down the road from Santa.
***************


"Denali Sunset at Midnight"


Mt. McKinley

People are so nice. I wrote half a dozen requests for permission to use their photographs in exchange for a link to their website. You know, "Sitting on top of the world"? I do live only a stone's throw from the Arctic Circle. On a clear day, you can see "The Great One," and I wanted you to see what I have in my backyard.

This man, George Bell--mountain climber, talented photographer, adventurer--he wrote back immediately saying sure, go ahead. He actually sounded surprised that I bothered to ask for permission. He has many more pictures and adventure stories and when I learn how to link he will be a permanent guest of mine.

I can't tell you how awe-inspiring it is to be humbled by this great magestic treasure on earth. You stand there and look and watch, and finally the clouds part, the sun lights up the face, and majesty unveils itself before you. You look up and up, and it fills the entire sky, and all you can hear is the sound of your own breath being sucked into your lungs out of sheer wonder.

Thank you, George, for letting me share this awesome beauty with my friends.

Thank you for reminding us all, especially now, that there are still places of heaven on earth.

Love that woman!

"In the department store," by Marge Piercy from Colors Passing Through Us (Alfred A. Knopf). Featured today in The Writer's Almanac.

The women who work at cosmetics
counters terrify me. They seem molded
of superior plastic or light metal.
They could be shot up into orbit
never mussing a hair, make-up intact.

When I walk through, they never pester
me, never attack me with loud perfume,
never wheedle me into a make-over.
Perhaps I scare them too, leaking
some subversive pheromone.

I trot through like a raccoon
in an airport. They see me,
they look and turn away. Perhaps
I am a project they fear to tackle
too wild, too wooly, trailing

electrical impulses from my loose
black hair. They fasten on the throat
of the neat fortyish blond behind me
like stoats, dragging her to their
padded stools. A lost cause,

I sidle past into men's sporting
gear, safe but bemused, wondering
if they judge me too far gone
to salvage or smell my stubborn
unwillingness like rank musk.

War of Another Sort

For the record, I am a predominantly lesbian bisexual person (with an opposite-gender partner; funnier things have happened) who is out, is monogamous, socializes with mostly queer people, belongs to a queer church, works in GLBT media, is a veteran GLBT-rights activist and same-gender marriage advocate, sings that she's glad to be gay along with Tom Robinson (another out bisexual), is perfectly comfortable with being labeled gay or lesbian, and is HORRIFIED that columnist Paul Varnell would even suggest what he does in the following op-ed.

Do Bs really fit in 'GLBT'?

Most bisexuals aren't out, they socialize mostly with heterosexuals, and form longer relationships with opposite-sex partners. So are they gay?

By Paul Varnell

GAY MEN AND lesbians are far more likely to disclose their sexual orientation to their personal physicians than are bisexuals,
according to an online survey conducted late last year by Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications.

The survey found that 55 percent of lesbians and 67 percent of gay men said they had come out to their physician. But only 23 percent of the self-described bisexuals said they had done so.

But the headline on the survey press release, repeated in many gay newspapers, was to the effect that fewer than half of all "GLBT" people had disclosed their sexuality to their physician.

That was extremely misleading. It obscured the fact that a majority of the lesbians and (especially) gay men were taking proactive
responsibility for their health by dealing openly with their physician, and it equally obscured the important fact that bisexuals were not dealing well with disclosure that would help them obtain better health care and more accurate medical advice.

That leads to the conclusion that for some purposes, it can be important to disaggregate gays, lesbians and bisexuals (to say
nothing of transsexuals) and not talk of them as if they were a unitary "community" or have more in common than they actually do.

If we fail to separate them out, we will be unable to identify -- or even think to look for -- problems each group may uniquely be facing and solutions that may work better for one group than another. The amount of similarity and the degree of actual "community" depends on the issue.

AT THE POLITICAL level, grouping bisexuals with gay men and lesbians makes some sense. In almost every way, bisexuals face the same issues of discrimination and prejudice that gays face, and for exactly the same reasons:

Some of their sexual activity violates sodomy laws; they cannot marry if they fall in love with a person of the same sex; they cannot serve openly in the U.S. military; they may encounter problems with child custody and adoption, and so on.

In other words, bisexuals face discrimination only because they sometimes behave like homosexuals.

Beyond that, gay activists have always sought to include bisexuals as part of a broader gay community because it helps increase the number of gays to politically relevant -- and more recently economically relevant -- levels. That familiar 10 percent figure for the gay population includes a substantial number of functional, if not self-defined, bisexuals.

But despite the identity of interests, there are important differences at the psychological and personal identity level. It seems clear from survey research that bisexuals understand their sexuality far differently from lesbians and gay men, and handle disclosure and relationship issues far differently, as the medical survey mentioned earlier suggests.

In interviews conducted for the extremely interesting 1994 book Dual Attraction: Understanding Bisexuality by former Kinsey Institute associates Martin Weinberg and Colin Williams, most bisexuals reported that they "were predominantly heterosexual in their sexual feelings, sexual behaviors, and romantic feelings" and socialized more with heterosexuals than with gays. So it was not so surprising that, for instance, only one-third of the bisexual men were out to their social acquaintances and fellow employees at work, whereas two-thirds of the gay men were.

THE QUESTION GAYS may then ask is how seriously these self-described bisexuals take their same-sex tricks, dates and relationships, or more fundamentally, how seriously they take the homosexual component of their sexuality.

No doubt there are vast individual differences. But the bisexuals Weinberg and Williams talked to "often said that the nature of
bisexuality had a negative effect on the stability of relationships over time. Some -- both men and women -- mentioned being unable to focus exclusively on one sex."

When bisexuals did form committed relationships, Weinberg and Williams found that those were "overwhelmingly" with opposite sex partners, and they were much more likely to be non-monogamous "because open multiple relationships are an important part
of their lifestyle."

Such findings suggest troubling obstacles for gay activists on a range of issues, from efforts to reach bisexual men with HIV
information to attempts to solicit bisexual support for same-sex marriage. They also remind us that in many ways the recently
coined "GLBT community" is more a semantic artifact or political term-of-art than anything like an actual community.

Paul Varnell is a Chicago-based syndicated writer and can be reached at pvarnell@aol.com.

I suppose there are bisexuals who fit Varnell's template. But not all. PLEASE if you believe in the integrity of each human being, our community as a whole, and about justice for all -- or if you, like I do, find Varnell's anti-bi prejudices shocking and disgusting and insulting -- participate in the following action, which comes from temenos.net.

Paul Varnell is a twit. The fact that he describes the acronym 'GLBT' as "a recently coined expression" shows how hopelessly out of touch he is with our community. The only reason I'm forwarding this is to encourage you to SPEAK OUT and voice your opposition.

Here's what you can do.

1. Send your letters to the editor about this article to: action@temenos.net and I will publish it on www.temenos.net.

3. This is a syndicated column, so look for this article in your local gay paper send your letter to them.

4. If at all possible, include the phrase "Paul Varnell is a twit." in your letter. (Ok, that last one is just for me, but it would make me terribly happy)

For the record, I won't call Paul a twit. As we often disagree, if I were to do such a thing it would be at least an every-week occurrence. But if you feel the need, feel free.

The saddest thing about this is that once again, we turn against each other and ourselves. That has to stop. The stereotyping, the identity politics -- they have to stop. Anti-bi and anti-trans gays and lesbians have to stop. Oppression is so ugly, so tired -- particularly when practiced by people who themselves are oppressed. Paul Varnell ought to know better.

Bottom line: I am keeping the toaster oven. I am a part of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community regardless of with whom I am sleeping (even if that person is no one, sigh). Deal with it.

An even older sister remembers the Yippies.

By the end of the 60s, I was married with two little kids and living in the rural town where my husband was teaching. I protested in what meager ways I could, but my heart was with the Yippies. Who were the Yippies? They're somewhat documented here, and what follows is excerpted from that piece.

The Yippies, who came up with the name first and the acronym "Youth International Party" later, pulled their first famous act at the New York Stock Exchange. They floated down dollar bills and then laughed hysterically as millionaire stockbrokers scrambled madly after the money. They wanted to celebrate the "death of money" and expose the greediness of American society. From then on, the Yippies would put soot bombs at Con Edison Headquarters to warn about pollution, plaster SEE CANADA NOW signs on Army Recruiting Booths and mail 3,000 marijuana joints to random strangers from the phone book. Abbie's antics made him a media celebrity along with the Yippies' other leader, Jerry Rubin, best known for dressing in a Revolutionary War outfit and blowing bubbles at a House Un-American Committee hearing. Many groups in the sixties were so earnest and self-righteous that the Yippies provided some of the only examples of radicals with a sense of humor.

Contrary to Abbie often being portrayed as a comic buffoon, ... he was a very serious, committed activist who gave away more money than he made. She had met him in New York, when Abbie had opened a "Free Store" for low-income people and set up a place for the homeless to come. He sold goods from cooperatives in the South who were trying to escape poverty.

As the Yippies gained more attention, however, the focus shifted towards pulling off even more outrageous activities rather than setting up "counter institutions" like the Free Store. Media dependency and addiction were setting in. Some began accusing the Yippies of provoking violent confrontations with the police, though others believed the police unleashed the violence. In October of 1967, in what would become one of the most important protests of the 60s, the March on the Pentagon mobilized 100,000 various anti-war activists.

At the protest, the Yippies had declared their intention to "levitate" the Pentagon, and to exorcise it of all the evil spirits that were killing Americans and Vietnamese women and children thousands of miles away. Roz put on the footage of the levitation and I could hear through the phone the chanting of "Ommmmmm." US marshals surrounding the Pentagon moved in and started arresting demonstrators. One famous photo shows a protester putting a daisy into the gun of a policeman. The March was only the prologue to what would become increasingly more violent confrontations with the police.

I think perhaps that, as much as we enjoyed the efforts of the early Yippies to draw attention to important issues through humor and satire, it became pretty apparent that those tactics were not going to result in real change happening. Frustration led to more confrontational behavior, as is also happening today.

As I sit here watching Baghdad being violently destroyed , live, before of the eyes of the whole world of television, I can't help see that the confrontation in which the anti-war protestors are engaging to make their points heard is nothing compared to the violence that we are inflicting upon the innocents of Iraq. As an American, I am ashamed of what my country's leaders are doing in my name.

(double posted here. And go here to read George Dubya Bush's War Prayer (a little satire in the Yippie spirit).

A grandma's question for young mothers

This is not the kind of issue I usually bring up here at Blog Sisters, but I need some input/advice/reassurance.

Have any of you done the "attachment parenting/co-sleeping/sleep-time ritual/baby-genius accoutrements" thing advocated by so many of the new books on baby-care and practiced by my daughter? I just don't remember caring for a baby being so complicated. I fed them when they were hungry and put them down to sleep when they got tired during the day. Sometimes I played with them and sometimes they amused themselves in their playpens. Bed-time rituals evolved according to what they seemed to need -- story time, lullabyes, stroking, etc. etc. while they lay in their cribs. I sometimes left them with baby-sitters and went out with my husband.

My daughter says she's read all the books and she knows what she's doing. Meanwhile, my grandson has a really hard time falling asleep and refuses to be separated from her (he's only 8 months and I understand that it's normal for him to have separation anxiety). She and her husband don't go anywhere; their lives revolve around the schedule she tries to set for the baby; she's tired and anxious and frustrated, and he's being a saint.

Have any of you young mothers gone through the same thing? If so, how long does it last? Do the kids eventually come through this and become independent self-calming sleepers and autonomous self-amusing kids?

She's pissed at me for suggesting that there are other less self-sacrificing ways to care for and nurture a baby. So, while my mouth is shut now, my mind is still wondering what experiences others have had using her modern baby-care methods. I figured that some of you modern mothers might be able to clue me in. I certainly am no longer going to butt in.

Gender and Achievement

My classes are focused on sociology of education at the moment, and one area we talk about that generates a lot of interest is gender and education. From literature, including 1991's Failing at Fairness: How Schools Cheat Girls and the more recent AAUW's Gender Gaps, we know that girls' learning problems are not identified, boys get more attention in classrooms, and girls start school testing higher in academic subjects but wind up achieving 50 points less on SATs. Finally, middle school is particularly troublesome.

At the same time, U.S. Department of Education data indicates that more girls than boys graduate high school, more women than men receive a bachelor's degree, and women now outnumber men in master's degree programs.

There is a dynamic in education, that achievement is impacted by social group, because while the returns to education are measurable across class, race, ethnicity and gender, as the outcome some groups benefit less than others, and as a result, are not as motivated to complete and excel. But this dynamic does not hold up between men and women. For example, compensation is not equitable between the genders. Yet females are high achievers. So why do women do so well when they receive fewer rewards? Some hypotheses are that women:

-are aware of the discrepancy but don't care
-are focused on the gains of feminism and so ignore the discrepancy
-have a traditionally dependent role which means economic returns are not the motivating factor (i.e. making a "good match")
-are socialized into specific roles in the early years
-value a private motivation (domestic life/home and family/community) more than a public one (economic/polity)

A complicating factor is that boys are disproportionately labeled as having special needs, perhaps because boys more often exhibit developmental delays, or are more likely to have their problems get attention, or because girls are more likely to display rewarded classroom behaviors (sitting quietly, raising her hand in turn).

Personally, I guess I do value private motivation, but at the same time, I see a lot of women in their 30s and 40s returning to college, and many are motived by economic reasons. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this fascinating subject?

Which side of the fence?

Unless you took this picture, or you happen to be the bird, you don't really know which side of the fence the bird is over. In other words, it's possible, and in all likelihood probable that we (blogsisters) don't all feel the same way about the impending war.

So what?
It would make me "unhappy" if this blog turned into a war blog, or should I say anti-war blog, but then that's me, and as I said we all don't feel the same even though we've got similar genitals.

in light of it all..

i posted the following in my weblog last night.

in light of it all.. being called idealistic, and a fantasizer. being told that i am not patriotic and i hate my country. having people say that i don't support the people that this government has sent to iraq. reading the comments placed here recently in an attempt to engage me in argument over war vs. peace. in spite of it all, i refuse to give up on my belief in peace and non-violence.

there are times when to let go and there are times when to hang on, this is one of those times when i choose to hang on to something i have believed in all my life.

i used to say that i wished i'd been around during the 60's, during the peace movement. i've got my own now. i've got a president who is off his rocker, a man who believes in holy wars, a man who claims to be the leader of this great country but chooses to forget the very tenants which he has been elected to move forward. i've got a country full of people who tell me how anti-american i am because i won't tow the line. i've got people who go for the quick fix of violence all around me. i don't need the 60's anymore, i've got the 00's. this is my time in the line and i will walk it proudly until the day i am told the line has finally reached the end.

there were hopes last week amongst the peace community. leaders of other countries saying that for once the world is not waging war, instead it is waging peace. there were reports that the father of this president, a former president himself, had joined with a bunch of plutocrats to say that this was bad. i was told that tony blair is under such scrutiny by his populace that if he supports this war he will be out of office in a millisecond.

but tonight the hopes have died down. the hopes of the millions who's voices people refuse to hear have been crushed. i found myself near tears. i found myself seeking out comfort, where comfort couldn't be found.

but i will tow this line. i won't let it go. in light of it all, everything i have known all my life, everything i have believed in, everything i have clung to and made a part of my heart-- that each life is a miracle, that no human being is worth more than another, that we should strive to love even our enemies-- has not left me. tonight, in light of it all, i refuse to give up my belief that peace and non-violence are the only answers.

Too Close for Comfort

I took these photos at a candlelight peace vigil that in which I participated tonight. It took place at the busiest intersection in the Albany area, less than 3 miles from where I live, and it was too close for me to be comfortable if I didn’t go over there. I sent the photos I took to moveon.org.

I stood between an elderly Quaker woman whose spiritual beliefs bring her to every peace rally in the area and a woman about my age who is a member of the Women For Peace effort. Next to her stood a distinguished sexagenarian in his old military uniform waving a large flag with the image of planet Earth from space. We lined up along the raised curb -- toddlers, students, dedicated activists, people like me who talk the talk and reached that point of discomfort where we felt we had to do more.

We were all handed a flyer:


War looms too close for comfort.

On Supporting the Troops

[an excerpt]

My friend Becky's eyes fill with light whenever she talks about her fiancé. Michael is a soldier, a new recruit (God only knows why) who just finished basic training. But now, Becky's eyes are filled with tears: Because the couple have yet to make their relationship legal -- thank heaven they are heterosexuals and have that right, although, thanks to the Shrub's rush to war, they lack the time -- Becky was not allowed to attend her beau's recent graduation. She was not even permitted to see him. And, she tells me, she won't get that chance, because Michael is being shipped out to goddess knows where to fight a war that even he questions. The last time we talked, a devastated Becky moaned that it will be at least two years before she sees her love again -- all because of a piece of paper and Bush's murderous grab for power and greed. How do we support Michael? Send him home to Becky's arms. NOW.

More of this commentary can be found at All Facts & Opinions.

War on Women

March is supposed to be Women's History Month. You wouldn't know that in the US Senate, which seems determined to do women harm. The Washington Post reports that senators rejected a proposal that would have expanded government health care for low-income pregnant women and would have forced private health-insurance companies to make contraceptives more widely available. Tuesday's 49-47 vote -- it was 11 short of the 60 needed -- came during debate on legislation to ban a procedure that critics call partial-birth abortion. The same vote also turned back a proposal to make emergency contraceptives (the morning-after pill) available in hospital emergency rooms for victims of sexual assault.

While we're busy trying to impeach the Shrub, we should seriously think about throwing some of the bastards on Capitol Hill out on their keisters.

hope for humanity

in his article the world after 9/11 arun gandhi, the grandson of m.k. gandhi, writes:

To begin with the communities in the United States can start a "Hope for Humanity Fund" - saving a coin every day to help a community in a Third World country. The reason why we need to save a coin everyday is because we must be conscious every day of the need to help someone, somewhere in the world. Writing a check at the end of the year does not create the consciousness that is necessary to build a relationship. Saving a coin everyday also gets children involved in the process and they learn early that life is about giving and helping and not just about amassing and consuming.

read more about hope for humanity in his article: hope for humanity: a new millennium role for the us?

so shrub spoke...

... and everything I wrote yesterday still applies -- you have to laugh or you'll end up bawling like a baby.

George W. Bush needs some new ideas, some new inspiration, perhaps a new job. In last night's televised press conference, a listless Commander-in-Thief gave us the same old-same old: that Iraq's a "direct threat" (which even many conservatives don't buy); that Saddam Hussein is delaying, "not disarming -- that's a fact" (let's see what Blix says); that Iraq's leader is thumbing his nose at the United Nations' authority; that the UN must support war; that the US doesn't need the UN's permission to attack anyway. Shrub says all of this twaddle makes his case, but last night, he did not appear convinced -- and he did not look particularly interested either.

But read this story of an encounter between a US military veteran and another man, chemist-activist Albert A. Hambidge Jr. Here is an excerpt from Hambidge's "The Wall," which chronicles a conversation between the author and the vet as they stand before the Vietnam Veterans' memorial in Washington, DC:

There weren't many people there; few visit during weather like this. As I walked by the panels, relishing the stillness, I came upon a man in fatigues. Though one of those floppy green hats covered his head, he seemed under dressed considering the cold. The area around him was devoid of wind and snow, as if the Wall created a sheltered harbor from the storm. He was staring at one panel, at a spot about chest high. Upon my approach, he said to no one in particular, "Goddamn bastards are doing it again." The sound of his voice startled me; I flinched, and stopped. He turned to look at me.

"We never learn, do we?" he asked. My quizzical look made him chuckle, and he continued as he turned back toward the Wall: "It never ceases to amaze me what we let ourselves be turned into cannon fodder for. We let ourselves get talked into all sorts of horror, and only after the body bags start piling up do we begin to wonder why."

We both knew he had my attention now. "Know how many names are here?" he asked. "Something like 50,000," I replied. "You make it sound like a goddamn statistic" he said, "There's Fifty Eight Thousand Two Hundred And Twenty Nine names on this Wall." He said the words slowly, enunciating each one. "Fifty Eight Thousand Two Hundred And Twenty Nine. Every one of them a son; a brother, or a father, a husband, a cousin, a lover, a neighbor, a friend. Fifty Eight Thousand Two Hundred And Twenty Nine boys brought home in boxes. For what? For fuckin' nothing. And now the bastards are gonna do it again."

A stronger case, n'est-ce pas? Read the piece in its entirety on the market-anarchy-themed site Strike the Root.

While you're at it, cyberpal and activist Lisa T. sent along a must-see op-ed that you, um, must see. Dig this bit about Bush:

He's clearly delusional.

The man who, through the country's apathy, ignorance, and blind trust, now wields the greatest power ever known to humankind, sees reality as a field of play where he is the biggest kid out there, or at least has the biggest stone to throw.

And part of the nightmare is that he is and he does.

Read the entire editorial by J. Rex Bounds & Lisa Walsh Thomas at resistance site America Held Hostile.

More ranting about the supposedly greatest nation in the world at All Facts and Opinions.

salem witch trials

there was a movie about the salem witch trials on cbs, here in the states, last night and sunday night. i've done some reading on the trials prior to the movie. the following is part of what i posted in my blog yesterday night:
i've done some reading about the trials. there are various theories about why what happened in salem, mass back then happened. the most plausible to me is ergotism poisioning. from the article by linda caporael:

Ergotism, or long-term ergot poisoning, was once a common condition resulting from eating contaminated rye bred.  In some epidemics it appears that females were more liable to the disease than males (19).  Children and pregnant women are most likely to be affected by the condition, and individual susceptibility varies widely.  It takes 2 years for ergot in powdered form to reach 50 percent deterioration, and the effects are cumulative (18, 20).  There are two types of ergotism--gangrenous and convulsive.  As the name implies, gangrenous ergotism is characterized by dry gangrene of the extremities followed by the falling away of the affected portions of the body.  The condition occurred in epidemic proportions in the Middle Ages and was known by a number of names, including ignis sacer, the holy fire.
        Convulsive ergotism is characterized by a number of symptoms.  These include crawling sensations in the skin, tingling in the fingers, vertigo, tinnitus aurium, headaches, disturbances in sensation, hallucination, painful muscular contractions leading to epileptiform convulsions, vomiting, and diarrhea (16, 18, 21).  The involuntary muscular fibers such as the myocardium and gastric and intestinal muscular coat are stimulated.  There are mental disturbances such as mania, melancholia, psychosis, and delirium.  All of these symptoms are alluded to in the Salem witchcraft records.
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It is one thing to suggest convulsive ergot poisoning as an initiating factor in the witchcraft episode, and quite another to generate convincing evidence that it is more that a mere possibility.  A jigsaw of details pertinent to growing conditions, the timing of events in Salem, and symptomology must fit together to create a reasonable case.  From these details, a picture emerges of a community stricken with an unrecognized physiological disorder affecting their minds as well as their bodies.
        1) Growing conditions.  The common grass along the Atlantic Coast from Virginia to Newfoundland was and is wild rye, a host plant for ergot.  Early colonists were dissatisfied with it as forage for their cattle and reported that it often made the cattle ill with unknown diseases (22).  Presumably, then, ergot grew in the New World before the Puritans arrived.  The potential source for infection was already present, regardless of the possibility that it was imported with the English rye.
        Rye was the most reliable of the Old World grains (22) and by the 1640's ot was a well-established New England crop.  Spring sowing was the rule; the bitter winters made fall sowing less successful.  Seed time for the rye was April and the harvesting took place in August (23).  However, the grain was stored in barns and often waited months before being threshed when the weather turned cold.  The timing of Salem events fits this cycle.  Threshing probably occurred shortly before Thanksgiving, the only holiday the Puritans observed.  The children's symptoms appeared in December 1691.  Late the next fall, 1692, the witchcraft crisis ended abruptly and there is no further mention of the girls or anyone else in Salem being afflicted (4, 9).

the article goes on to talk about the geography salem and how there were more affected in one part of salem than the other. it is all quite interesting.

i personally am not that thrilled with this movie. witchcraft and witches are still misunderstood in this country, in fact bush himself does not recognize the practice of wicca or paganism as real religions. people who identify as witches still have to hide in this country under which "freedom of religion" was one of the tenants that we were founded. it is all very disturbing.

btw, one site that i've found to be pretty good as far as the facts of the trials, as they were then, is: salem witch trials page

Anita Roddick: We Need More Like Her

Well, I did get myself out in the rain and over to Russell Sage College in Troy, where Blogsister (and socially responsible corporate entrepreneur/founder of The Body Shop) Anita Roddick was signing her new book (as well as her other books) at the college's "Social Responsibility Fair." She is in residence there this week as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. (I signed a few petitions and picked up some info about the local "Women Against War" group that I've been trying to catch up with.

Anita Roddick is as impressive in person as she is in her tireless work on behalf of human rights, fair trade, the environment, peace, and any number of issues that specifically affect women. Luckily, I arrived early enough to catch her before the throngs beseiged her for photo ops and further discussions of questions that she stirred in her presentation earlier in the day. She welcomed me as a Blogsister, and I commandeered a passerby to take this photo.



Next to Anita, I look like something that just came in from the rain (which is exactly what I was.) I think I need to trek over to my neighborhood Body Shop and see what she's got there to help spruce me up. I did wear my Blogsister's t-shirt, though. My thanks to Anita's colleague, Blogsister Brooks Shelby Biggs, whom I finally thought to email in hopes that she would mention to Anita that I was going to show up -- which she was happy to do.

women call for peace in yachats, oregon

The letters SOS are understood worldwide as a call of distress. These letters, the O turned into the symbol of the peace movement, are composed of women who shed their clothing Saturday [22 February 03] in a grassy field near Waldport [Ore.] to express their views against war. Organizers of the event arranged for a chartered plane to fly over and photograph the peace message.

read more about the action, that i participated in, at women send SOS call for peace. and see even more pictures of women all over the world at baring witness.

Sign Emergency Petition to U.N.

Once, there was a bogus fwd-the-email petition going around that purported to be aimed at the United Nations. It was fake, false nonsense. Now, thanks to MoveOn.org, here's the real thing.

The emergency petition's going to be delivered to the 15 member states of the Security Council on THURSDAY, MARCH 6.

If hundreds of thousands of us sign, it could be an enormously important and powerful message -- people from all over the world joining in a single call for a peaceful solution. But we really need everyone who agrees to sign up today. You can do so easily and quickly at:

http://www.moveon.org/emergency/

The stakes couldn't really be much higher. A war with Iraq could kill tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and inflame the Middle East. According to current plans, it would require an American occupation of the country for years to come. And it could escalate in ways that are horrifying to imagine.

We can stop this tragedy from unfolding. But we need to speak together, and we need to do so now. Let's show the Security Council what world citizens think. Sign the emergency petition to the U.N.

Speaking of Anita Roddick!

So, I log onto Blog Sisters to sing the praises of Blog Sister Anita Roddick, and there she is, posting (below) about the virtual march that she is organizing for London. But I'm mentioning her for another reason. She's in my locality this week.

Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop and international activist, is spending this week at Russell Sage College in Troy as this year's Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. She's here to show her support for the new bachelor's degree program created by Brownell and Ingraham -- business and organizational management with a focus on social responsibility.

For those of you who don't know about Anita Roddick, the local newspaper article goes on to say:

She opened the first Body Shop in Brighton, England, in 1976. Today, the skin and hair care company has nearly 2,000 stores in 50 countries and is a leader in the social responsibility movement. Calling itself a "corporation with a conscience," The Body Shop uses ethical, environmental and socially responsible methods to produce its products and conduct business. For example, the company promotes fair trade by working cooperatively with small producers and protects the environment by using minimal and recyclable packaging.

The corporation encourages these values outside the company's framework by campaigning for the protection of the environment and against animal testing within the cosmetics industry. The Body Shop supports human and civil rights actions -- from fair employment practices worldwide to volunteerism within local communities.

Roddick's activism isn't limited to business, however, or to one area of the globe. It extends to women's business cooperatives in Ghana, to safe sex initiatives in India and to London, where she is speaking out against a possible U.S.-led war in Iraq. (And organizing a virutal march, as her post below explains.)

I buy my cosmetics at our local Body Shop. If you never tried them, you should. Not only are they great products, but I love the fact that a company like Anita's is behind them and that she's a Blog Sister!!

I wonder if I show up wearing my Blog Sisters t-shirt at one of the events at which she's featured, if it will get me a personal intro.