A Prayer for America (the video)

I've been a little overwhelmed lately. You'll have to excuse my inattention but sometimes other things call. It's an unpleasant rollercoaster ride. Help me keep positive thoughts. Wish him ease.

I did find something very worthy of sharing. I can't recall if I found it on Dennis Kucinich's weblog, or possibly in his discussion forum, or elsewhere. Searches to my site have shown an interest in finding the video, and, through this web archive of the old Draft Kucinich 2004 site. I found a link. A Prayer for America. (the video, in realplayer format). The text is here. It's compelling. After watching it, you'll understand why he has captured the attention of people in a short time, and you may just find yourself excited to find others writing hopeful articles like this: The Fire This Time: Why Kucinich May be the Right Guy at the Right Time

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The Two Georges, Orwell and Bush

Tish pointed me to this Reading of George Orwell’s 1984 interspersed with recent news clips from President Bush and others. I haven't listened yet but I can imagine. That's where I'm headed now! posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Democrats to conduct investigation into Iraq weapons allegations

Partisan bickering over intelligence that President Bush used to justify the war on Iraq escalated Friday as minority Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee announced they would conduct their own investigation.

The panel's senior Democrat, Carl Levin of Michigan, said the Democrats had decided to undertake their own review because the panel's Republican chairman, John Warner of Virginia, had spurned an offer for a bipartisan inquiry.

...some senior diplomatic, intelligence and military officials have charged that Bush and his top aides made assertions about Iraq's banned weapons programs and alleged links to al-Qaida that weren't supported by credible intelligence, and that they ignored intelligence that didn't support their policies.

Among the examples they cite are contentions, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, that Iraq had restarted the nuclear weapons program that was all but destroyed in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and by U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors.

USA Today: Senate Dems begin inquiry into Iraq intelligence

Robert Dreyfuss: Could WMD become Bush’s Watergate?

Ted Rall: A Crack In Bush's Facade

Truthout: Senate Dems Begin Inquiry Into Iraq Intelligence

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

thundering waves of fire
drenching the cinnamon breeze
the tunnel of safety
shattered
raw diamonds and rose petals
scattered
one careful voice shouting
it mattered posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Bush is a liar

Under legal standards, George W. Bush is an abject liar. Any person who would use lies to launch belligerent acts sure to kill thousands of people -- some innocent, some not -- to deplete billions of dollars of the resources of his own country, to ruin a foreign land and mire its people into deeper poverty, is a vile immoral villain.

... If America is to hold on to the remaining shreds of constitutional governance, its people must acknowledge George W. Bush for what he is, not what his propagandists say he is. He is an abject liar.

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Wildfires in the Southwest

National Wildfire Map
New Mexico Public Lands
New Mexico Wilderness
Bosque Del Apache (which is burning) posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Grow Up!

 
Kevin writes:God Told Bush to Go to War

Mary writes: More Essential Members of the Left Coalition: Christians and points to The Right Christians.

I feel hopeful that there are many right Christians who are feeling the hatred and exclusivity permeating our culture and that they will be a force for change and inclusive gentleness. There is a morality, Christian or larger, that needs to be addressed. Bush does not touch this morality.
What Bush touches is exactly what Lorelei grasps, Powerful figures playing powerful roles when the feelings of powerlessness are the most powerful.

This is not the self reliance that conservatives generally embrace. It's a regression to the safety of the Strict Father they are accustomed to. I say, grow up! Take responsibility for keeping yourself informed, look at your family's future with the big picture in mind, provide for that future with the self-discipline that was instilled in you. Sacrifice does not include sacrificing other human lives in the name of greed.

The American public is still stuck in the feelings of powerlessness. Until they realize that Bush offers no comfort, no morality, and no solutions, we will continue to be dragged deeper into a tunnel. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Kucinich vs Dean

I'm sure many of you have seen this comparison, but I want it handy. Thanks to Bob Harris for compiling it. If you have yet to vote in the MoveOn primary and are still undecided, take a look!
UPDATE: Because of problems with server traffic Bob of Bob's Links and Rants has mirrored the page here. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Bad Planning

by Thomas Friedman
How the Pentagon could have failed to secure the known nuclear sites is unbelievable. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Renewed Vigor

Will someone please package up this man and send him to me? I promise I'll pick his brain gently, keep him healthy and share my computer. He's promising renewed vigor. One day back and it shows! posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

A Seer's Blind Spots

On George Orwell's 100th, a Look at a Flawed and Fascinating Writer

"In a peaceful age I might have written ornate or merely descriptive books, and might have remained almost unaware of my political loyalties," he once wrote. "As it is I have been forced into becoming a sort of pamphleteer." And, indeed, it was the age that helped forge Orwell. He wrote his most compelling work during a 10-year span between 1938 and 1949 -- one of humankind's most perilous decades, when the world experienced Hitler and Stalin and a cataclysm of warfare and slaughter. Orwell's writings vividly help explain who these men were, what their hold was on other men and how much they had in common.

Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip.
-- George Orwell, born 100 years ago today posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

RNEP and Responsibility

If we can do no better than this:

During a week-long survey, Greenpeace said it had uncovered radioactivity in a number of buildings, including one source measuring 10,000 times above normal and another, outside a 900-pupil primary school, measuring 3,000 times above normal.

Then why would we even remotely consider this:

The FY’04 Defense Authorization bill, passed last month by the House and Senate, authorizes $15 million for research on a new "bunker buster" nuclear weapon, also known as the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP).

In its budget request for fiscal year 2004, the Bush Administration asked for $15 million for the second year of the RNEP study. The budget request also contains $6 million for advanced nuclear weapons concepts, funds to accelerate the ability to conduct a nuclear weapons test, and funds to accelerate the design and construction of a new, multi-billion dollar facility to manufacture the plutonium component of nuclear weapons, also known as a plutonium pit. In addition, the Bush Administration sought the repeal of the long standing ban on the research, production, and development of new, low-yield nuclear weapons. A low yield nuclear weapon is a weapon with a yield of 5 kilotons or less, roughly a third the size of the Hiroshima nuclear weapon

“We’re driving recklessly down a road that we’re telling other people not to walk down.”
-- Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) after the Senate Armed Services Committee vote to repeal the ban on low-yield nuclear weapons.
Get Angry! This is craziness! Block Funding for the RNEP posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Forbidden Poetry

 
Forbidden Poetry
When I have succeeded in insinuating
my soul into words, when the revolution comes
and there are bodies on the street and women scream
with grief and anger over the senseless murders
of their husbands and sons while policemen arrest
them for unlawful assembly, when we shake our
heads in silence over the reactionary
headlines in the shit sheets we used to call papers
and we drink our coffee without watching while the
ever-so-smug professional liar tells us
the official version of the news, when the only
effective form of protest is to quit your job –
because no one sees the downtown rallies, the handmade
posters advocating change, the police riots –
I hope I will not be like Lorca, among the
first to die – there will be forbidden poetry.

This poetry will be what we are not – one part
venom, one part medicine, rubbed into the wound
of the American dream – it will be strong, moral,
boisterous, and loud. We will deny reading it,
we will deny hearing it, of downloading the
MP3s. It will be indirect, like tango –
the words will say one thing but will insinuate
another. It will wail like the blues and dare to
call to account paramilitary killings.
It will sing hymns and praises to God, echoing
el Mozote in America. And it will
comfort lovers who have lost their loved ones – crying
yet silent. It will be the fuel for violence,
for young poets will understand that words are not
enough, and yet the words will have meaning – perhaps
not my soul, but the soul of America, reborn.

-- honorable mouse liberal arts mafia posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

No Compromise

 
I voted. It felt good. I asked for what I wanted without compromise. I rarely get to do that.
Thank you MoveOn!

I could have gone with the sheep, I could have voted for this:
Dr. Dean estimated that there were 135,000 American troops in Iraq and said there should be more.
I could have lost my soul, so we could have more of this:
Burned Iraqi Children Turned Away as is so vividly outlined here: How [NOT] to win hearts and minds in Iraq.
But I wanted to break the spell.

When we are touched by an angel,
What sweet inspiration makes us move
To higher aspirations,
Break the spell, speak to the possibilities.
We are the mediums of democracy.

Now is the time to ask for what you want.

If you don't quite know what you want, you can get to know the candidates more:

-- Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun
-- Governor Howard Dean
-- Senator John Edwards
-- Congressman Dick Gephardt
-- Senator Bob Graham
-- Senator John Kerry
-- Congressman Dennis Kucinich
-- Senator Joe Lieberman
-- Reverend Al Sharpton
posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Ann Arbor News Special on Affirmative Action

Past stories, statements, court transcripts. Comprehensive compilation. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

U.S. Supreme Court rules on University of Michigan cases

U-M President Mary Sue Coleman responded to news of the court’s decision: here
Text of rulings:
Law School (pdf)
Undergraduate (pdf) posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

What's the Difference?

 
How often is it when you talk to a young person who has never voted, the reasons they give for not voting are, "What's the difference? They're all the same. None of them care about what I think. The rich always win. We can't make a difference by voting. They're going to do what they want anyway."
There has to be a clear difference to ignite their passion.

This article, Let's Swim, with excerpts from "Dispatches from the Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit." illustrates the problem vividly:

...most Democratic candidates had deliberately avoided issues of interest to younger voters and to many other parts of the Democratic base.

...Instead of looking at long-term opinion growth, they were focusing year-round on the sliver of "swing voters" who represent approximately 10 percent of those who actually vote. No attention was given to the half of the eligible people who choose not to vote. Far too little attention was given to issues that inspire emotional intensity on the part of activists who can influence media and turnout.

...I couldn't understand why the Democrats weren't calling for energy independence. It seemed obvious to me that oil affects our relationships in the Middle East, where so much terrorism originates. Moreover, Bush and Cheney both have oil industry backgrounds. Progressive publicist David Fenton suggested that a goal of energy independence could be a progressive goal similar to President Kennedy's commitment to get a man on the moon . . . .

...As Clinton media advisor and CNN commentator James Carville lamented on election night, "A party that won't defend itself is not going to be trusted to defend the country."

Does the DLC (and the centrists) have a clue as to why people call the Democrats spineless? This article should be required reading for all Democratic leaders. They desperately need to define differences, and provide solutions loudly and clearly!



posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Democratic Candidate Website Rankings

The Moveon.org internet primary should be an interesting test of the Website rankings we've pioneered.

Dean Continues to hold the lead, with Kucinich closing in fast, jumping from sixth to neck and neck with Kerry, with the two shuffling between second or third place depending on how the data is analyzed. Kerry is ahead on a weekly average basis, but Kucinich is ahead TODAY.

Is It too Early to Know?
"We’re all excited about MoveOn’s growth and impact on national politics. Let’s keep building and strengthening it, and not squandering our influence too early." posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Now is the time to stretch

Maxspeaks well! Here is a small highlight, but I urge you to read it all. As he says, now is the time to stretch!

"The potential of a ‘radical’ candidate is not to run against Bush or the pragmatic candidates. It is to run against the zeitgeist. The fact is that conventional wisdom changes. We can see it changing now with respect to the Iraq war. A progressive candidate has the vision to stick to principles he or she knows to be right, confident that events will carry opinion towards those conclusions. A progressive candidacy can radicalize the public by speaking truth to power, by advancing positions that are right on the merits but unpopular at the moment."
Thanks to Al-Muhajabah for the heads up! posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Imagine America

Imagine America mp3 big file by US Representative Dennis Kucinich
3/15/2003 Lexington Kentucky posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

UnAmerican Film Festival

Taking its name from the House Un-American Activities Commitee (HUAC), which terrorized the film industry in the 1950s with a witch hunt that blacklisted 'subversive' writers and filmmakers, the Unamerican Film Festival supports films and videos that question the government and social norms, even at a time when such acts are deemed "unpatriotic". line-up posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Because He Was Right

Washington Post
"The story of Cleveland's municipally owned light plant embodies Kucinich's worldview, the view he hopes voters across the country will embrace: that the United States is in danger of losing its very soul, and that only a crusader such as Kucinich can stand up to the corrupt corporations and their political lackeys who are leading the country down this dangerous path.

On a recent campaign swing, Kucinich recounted the story of Cleveland's electricity crisis many times. He told it to hog farmers when they asked if he was sincere about standing up to giant farming conglomerates. He told it to labor leaders to underscore his willingness to take on multinationals. He told it to a group of supporters in a private home in Des Moines when he was describing how he envisioned his administration would operate.

Sitting with hog farmers in a local restaurant in Story City, Iowa, Kucinich said he would work to make sure that large-scale agriculture operations did not capture the market entirely. This prompted Kermit Miskell, a retired farmer, to ask, "So is this coming from your heart, or is this coming from a politician?"

"If it was coming from a politician, I would have sold a municipal electricity company and gone on to a career of great fame," Kucinich said. "There is not another candidate in this race who can stand up to corporate America, to the bankers."
much more read the entire article! posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

?????

Progressive Talk Show Host Peter Werbe is Fired from i.e. America Radio Network
WTF?? posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Now Look: Bush Says Iraqi Weapons Sites Were Looted

Bush, trying again to explain the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said on Saturday that suspected arms sites had been looted in the waning days of Saddam Hussein's rule.
"For more than a decade, Saddam Hussein went to great lengths to hide his weapons from the world. And in the regime's final days, documents and suspected weapons sites were looted and burned," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

I had a feeling this was coming. To get an idea of what's next take a look at what I posted on April 12., again on April 16, again on April 27, and on May 4.
This is critical stuff here and there is absolutely no media covering it! Why don't I find it odd that most of the links included in my earlier postings are dead? posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Dennis Kucinich Rocks!

 
I am totally impressed with the development of the Kucinich weblog! (my inner wanna be geek talking) It may be a new concept for him personally but the backend is awesome. For his personal updates go here! Note the use of the wiki! Real community even for the HTML impaired among us! Today's subject: Election Activism for 2004

Some recent momentum for the Kucinich campaign:

Democrats.com Letter Of Support for Dennis Kucinich in the MoveOn Presidential Primary

Ralph Nader has invited Dennis to speak at a mass rally in Baltimore, Thurs. June 26.

Ben & Jerry's Founder Endorses Kucinich For President

Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) announced her endorsement of Dennis Kucinich for President. saying:

"The issues Dennis Kucinich fights for are the issues I fight for," said
Rep. Woolsey. "He supports peace, civil rights and the fight for working
families that are important to me and the people of Marin and Sonoma
Counties. If my district were the whole country, Dennis Kucinich could
certainly be our next president. He offers the sharpest contrast to George
W. Bush of any candidate running, and we appreciate that distinction."

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Let the People Speak Early

...Dennis Kucinich should also do well, buoyed by what many are calling the most inspiring political speech heard in years, delivered to more than 1,000 cheering activists at the recent Take Back America conference in Washington DC.

...The MoveOn effort is being taken seriously by the Democratic establishment, which is well aware that the organization has the ability to raise big bucks for candidates. At less than half its current size, MoveOn has already raised $4.1 million. Some political observers suggest, as Myerson wrote in the Washington Post, that MoveOn could produce as much as $30 million for an endorsed candidate who gathered momentum in an early primary.

Even though MoveOn is jumping into the primary dynamic, it's fundamentally motivated by the fact that "George W. Bush and some radical Republicans have stolen our country." The candidate engagement process is the beginning of something big: a web-enabled nationwide network to defeat Bush. MoveOn remains committed to its mantra of regime change at home: "No matter who we individually support during the primaries, we [will] keep working to defeat Bush once the eventual Democratic nominee is chosen." [more]

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Legislation Re-Introduced to Protect Sacred Lands

Rep. Nick Rahall (D, WV) has re-introduced The Native American Sacred Lands Act (H.R. 2419), to counter growing threats to holy places like Medicine Lake, Zuni Salt Lake and Indian Pass. The bill would create a process by which Native Americans can petition federal land management agencies to withdraw sacred lands from development, and go to court to seek protection if the land managers fail to protect culturally significant places.

In contrast, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R, CO) introduced the Indian Contracting and Federal Land Management Demonstration Project Act (S 288) on February 4, 2003. This bill's stated purpose is "to prevent significant damage to Indian sacred land " and would mandate co-management of Native American sacred sites on public land. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Panel Approves Limits On Media

The Senate Commerce Committee voted Thursday to overturn parts of a Federal Communications Commission decision freeing media companies from decades-old ownership limits and allowing them to buy more outlets and merge in new ways.

"I would like the FCC to start all over," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who opposes the changed rules. She said they are "potentially dangerous to media diversity in this country." posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Dennis Kucinich Weblog

 
Dennis Kucinich Weblog!!
Go..now..blogroll..read!

For the postings that are from Dennis Kucinich go here.

contribute to his campaign posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

What Did Bush Know and When Did he Know it?

October 4, 2002
Iraq Intelligence Tension

On 4 October '02 US Intelligence agencies published a joint public assessment on the Iraq threat. It noted that, if Iraq was left unchecked (which it has never been), it could "have a nuclear weapon during this decade." Further, if Iraq can acquire weapons-grade fissile material from abroad, "it could make a nuclear weapon within a year." Iraq is capable of "quickly producing and weaponizing" a variety of agents, including anthrax, "for delivery by bombs, missiles, aerial sprayers, and covert operatives." Discrepancies in Iraq's accounting of its Scud missiles "suggest" that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "retains a covert force of up to a few dozen Scud missiles with a range of 650 to 900 kilometers." It also states that the probability of an unprovoked attack by Iraq on the US is low.

October 7, 2002
Bush's Speech on the Use of Force

Detailed Analysis of October 7 Speech by Bush on Iraq

October 9, 2002
White House 'exaggerating Iraqi threat'

Mr Cannistraro said the flow of intelligence to the top levels of the administration had been deliberately skewed by hawks at the Pentagon.

"CIA assessments are being put aside by the defence department in favour of intelligence they are getting from various Iraqi exiles," he said. "Machiavelli warned princes against listening to exiles. Well, that is what is happening now."

November 4, 2002
Misleading the Nation to War

Pressing for war with Iraq, Bush has been exaggerating his case so much that even CIA analysts are complaining, as a number of newspapers have now reported.

In his national address, Bush stressed the "clear evidence of peril" from Iraq possibly giving chemical and biological weapons to terrorists. But on the day of Bush’s speech, the CIA offered a sharply different evaluation of the risk.

February 13, 2003
CIA Director Caves In

With neither embarrassment nor explanation, the CIA director backtracked on key judgments on Iraq that he gave the Senate committee in a letter of October 7, 2002. Those conclusions were call-them-as-you-see-them judgments in the best tradition of objective CIA analysis. But they brought on severe reflux among those at the White House and Pentagon who prefer to damn the torpedoes and press full speed ahead to invade Iraq.

February 14, 2003
CIA 'sabotaged inspections and hid weapons details'

"Senior democrats have accused the CIA of sabotaging weapons inspections in Iraq by refusing to co-operate fully with the UN and withholding crucial information about Saddam Hussein's arsenal."

"Senator Levin, from Michigan, responded by saying the CIA director had not been telling the truth. Citing a number of classified letters he had obtained from the agency, he said it was clear the CIA had not shared information with the inspectors about a "large number of sites of significant value". (article no longer accessable without purchase)

June 17, 2003
Senator queries WMD claims

"It undermines the credibility of the director of intelligence to be making public statements relative to intelligence which are not factually accurate," Mr Levin said, adding that a lack of confidence in the intelligence services would affect security in the future.

He told reporters that if the public had known that information about alleged top weapons sites was not being shared, there would have been "greater public demand that the inspection process continue".

But the Republican majority in the US Congress has rejected calls for a formal investigation, arguing that any such inquiry could harm the intelligence agencies.

June 17, 2003
Ex-CIA director says administration stretched facts on Iraq

Former CIA director Stansfield Turner accused the Bush administration Tuesday of "overstretching the facts" about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in making its case for invading that country.

Turner's broadside adds the retired admiral's name to a list of former intelligence professionals concerned that the CIA and its intelligence reports were manipulated to justify the war.

Turner's comments come a month after a group of retired U.S. intelligence officers wrote President Bush to "express deep concern" over alleged misuse of intelligence to justify the war.

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Riots in Michigan

Bob at Bob's Links and Rants has been providing information.

"It's completely -- economically, spiritually and geographically -- isolated," Mr. Kotlowitz said of Benton Harbor. "I'm not surprised at the anger; I felt it. You could tell it had a lot more to it than one individual's death." posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Fear, Rhetoric, Arrogance

Lorelei of From the Inside Looking Out is examining Bush's popularity. She points out some very valid inconsistencies in the thinking of the average American and promises to continue along that line of thought.

"How can one explain why a group of individuals who will riot at sporting events if there is a suspicion of foul play, be perfectly okay with the inconsistencies in the Bush saga?"
...And the majority continue to approve of the "job Bush has done against terrorism," when terrorism has not gone anywhere, except maybe into planning.

Tish has written an op-ed and it's published here. She's examining attitudes also.

"We need public policy makers who don't accept the rhetoric of the medical and diet industries, both of which are vested in selling diet drugs, risky surgeries, and weight-loss programs."

Daintily Dirty is ranting too. An insightful proactive rant.

"Our media is doing a great disservice to this country by continuing to play cheerleader for Bush and Co. It is an outrage that Bush lied. We should be marching by the millions to the steps of the White House and demanding answers. We, the people of this Nation, better wake up while we still can. Our arrogance and discounting the importance of the rest of the world will come back to haunt us once again.

These three women are obviously not 'the average American'. All demonstrate an immunity to the fear and rhetoric we are fed and lack the arrogance American's are becoming known for. I'd like to think the polls are rhetoric. I'd like to think the average American sees what is going on and is as disgusted by it as these women are. I do think that, with passion and boldness in voices such as theirs, the average American may be outraged soon. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Hanging on a Star

Friends in San Francisco:
A Tribute to Nick Drake
June 23, 2003
Make-Out Room
3225 22nd Street, SF

Jolie Holland
Beam
Kelley Stoltz
Vervein
Sean Hayes
Hudson Bell
Charles Atlas
David Hopkins

I was born to use my eyes
Dream with the sun and the skies
To float away in a lifelong song
In the mist where the melody flies
Nick Drake posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Thoughts on the DV Revolution



Congratulations to Brian Flemming! NOTHING SO STRANGE is receiving rave reviews from critics and moral condemnation from some right-wing pundits.
Brian talks about the difficulties distributing a film and asks: "Where is the little theater like the Actors' Gang where this film can open for a short run, with a possible extension if it gets good word of mouth, and a possible step up if it gets really good word of mouth?"
Here's one place for you Brian: (scroll when you get there)
Dreamland Theater
posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

A Mosquito is a Persistent Threat

Talk about revising history! Bush Lied People Died
onegoodmove indeed! posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Nada for me


I'm struggling. Move along to thoughts on the eve of the apocalypse. He has all the goodies today. The Right Wing Agenda is especially chilling. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Bloomsday Buffalo

The first celebration of Bloomsday - June 16, the day James Joyce's Ulysses takes place - was a bit late: June 27, 1929. The event was a luncheon to commemorate both Bloomsday and the publication of the French translation of Ulysses earlier that year. It was an overly proper affair; Samuel Beckett, then just a young writer, seems to be the only person who enjoyed the luncheon as he spent most of the occasion drunk.
wood s lot made me think. Frank sent the link. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Dean and the Death Penalty


Please take a moment and look at a bothersome post at TalkLeft .
There are several things that bother me about Dean and this is just another.

Count us among those who have been skeptical that Howard Dean is really a liberal. We've always been concerned about his support for the death penalty. Now, Dean is expanding his support for the death penalty and aligning himself closer to Bush on the issue.

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Kucinich Komix


Thanks to Norm at onegoodmove I found these Kucinich Komix I followed the link to Bob Harris's site and found he was offering to let others share the bandwidth. Share. Enjoy!
Animation by: Scott Bateman posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Your political activities are governed and, in many ways, restricted or limited by Federal law.


When I was in New Mexico I read this and wanted to get back to it as a top action item. I haven't seen a lot about it on the pages I frequent yet. We all remember how important Head Start was when we were kids don't we? Even if you have no kids who benefit, perhaps you recall someone, yourself perhaps, who derived huge benefit from this program. The Bush Administration plans to turn responsibility for the Head Start program over to the states, which Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee said the proposal, if implemented would be “sort of like handing your children over to Michael Jackson.”

"Launched in 1965, Head Start provides healthcare, nutrition and educational services for low-income preschoolers between the ages of three and five. It is run by the Administration for Children and Families within the Health and Human Services Department, but is operated in nearly 70,000 Head Start centers and classrooms across the country."

The Bush administration is warning Head Start centers not to aid a lobbying effort under way to defeat its proposed overhaul of the preschool program for the poor. Federal officials sent a letter May 28 to Head Start centers warning them of the provisions of the Hatch Act, which bars certain political activity.

Bush Warns Head Start Centers on Lobbying

Administration using scare tactics

May 8, 2003 Bush Administration Letter to Head Start Officials (.pdf file)
Which, in part, states: The Head Start Bureau continues to recognize and celebrate the importance of effective two-way communication between staff and parents and sharing of information and materials that empower and support the role of parents in shared decision-making. At the same time, it seems appropriate to again share with you, your staff, governing boards and policy councils and parents, long-standing Federal and Head Start Bureau policy regarding political activities.
Your political activities are governed and, in many ways, restricted or limited by Federal law.
it does not make clear that staff are free to advocate political views during their own time, and with their own resources.

There has been some action related to the warning:

Bush Administration Sued for Attack on 1st Amendment Rights of Head Start Instructors and Parent/Volunteers
The motion for preliminary injunction asks the federal district court to enjoin any action related to a May 8, 2003 letter from a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official warning all local Head Start staff and parent/volunteers of possible civil and criminal penalties if they speak out against an extremely controversial Bush Administration proposal to gut the Head Start program.

There are still faith based hiring discrimination issues:
Bill allows some Head Start schools to base hiring on religion

If you are ready to send a message, Take Action Here!

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Saturday Sampler


Viable Utopian Ideas

FuturePundit.com

Trotsky, Strauss, and the Neocons, by Justin Raimondo

Jobless Recovery Means Lurch To Left, by Paul Craig Roberts posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Social Movement Theories and the Future

An Examination of the Works of Alvin Toffler
No, I haven't read this yet.

Social movement scholars have always been deeply involved in understanding the nature of social change. From Marx's work on dialectic materialism to the advent of New Social Movement theory, SM researchers have sought to map the future of society and foresee the role of social movements in either advancing or reacting to that change. Despite this intimate involvement with issues of social change and the future, SM researchers have not taken advantage of the burgeoning literature produced by the field of Future Studies. This paper seeks to introduce the work of the noted futurist Alvin Toffler to the study of SMs.

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Dream


Your Vegan Holistic President
Sure an odd, spiritual guy like Dennis Kucinich doesn't have a chance in hell. But it sure is nice to dream
by Mark Morford

I would really like to copy this whole article at length but I'm hoping you'll go read it yourself, including the links he offers. He asks:"Why does this seem so far off, so utterly impossible? Have we gone so far down the road of BushCo-style isolationism and dread and knives-out bile that we can't even entertain a serious alternative, the notion that we actually could, as a country, stand for something as radical as peace?"

Is it really all that radical? Is it really all that extreme to try and imagine a truly connected national leadership that promotes international cooperation and spiritual openness and the sacredness of the environment and a genuinely holistic worldview, one who actually attempts to connect with and listen to its populace?
[...]
How shockingly naive it seems, how utterly childish to think we could have a president who actually promotes peace and empowers the U.N. and works toward interconnectedness, and in this day and age. Don't you know the world is at our throat? Don't you know it's all eye-for-an-eye and dog-eat-dog and only the strong survive and kill 'em all before they come and eat our innocent babies? [read it all!!] via | Bob's Links and Rants (check out his pictures of the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market Kucinich Corner)

I ask myself, "If I hold these ideals dear, then what is wrong with working toward them?" The more we work toward our ideals, the better chance we have of realizing them, true? How did the ideals of American become so distorted, so utterly against what all great spiritual leaders, including Christ, spoke of? How did we collectively let a group of militant, imperialistic fundamentalists take hold of our minds and country? Why do people think Dennis Kucinich is odd? Have they been victims of headlines, yes, even this Mark Morford headline, that they go no further, refusing to take a good look at all the other issues and where Kucinich stands, issues such as health care, labor and economic justice, the drug war and military spending? Not so radical, realistically sound and do-able.
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

While You're Reading Mark Morford...

Dont miss this one: Come Back, Clinton Sex Nation
Is the country better off with a president who actually has an active libido? Hell yes.

...Look. It ain't rocket science. Lack of sex, repression of libido, ignorance of sexuality or sex education, lack of sexual celebration or outlet -- these things, on a national level, on an energetic universal level, can only result in conflict, bitterness, angst and war, and the need to flaunt bogus machismo, invent new enemies and strut around the planet thinking you're literally God's gift to empire when you're really just a draconian impotent bully. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Oldest Modern Humans

The fossilized skulls of two adults and one child discovered in the Afar region of eastern Ethiopia have been dated at 160,000 years, making them the oldest known fossils of modern humans, or Homo sapiens.
[...]
"This set of fossils is stupendous," said team member F. Clark Howell, UC Berkeley professor emeritus of integrative biology and co-director with White of UC Berkeley's Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies. "This is a truly revolutionary scientific discovery."
[...]
The research team also unearthed skull pieces and teeth from seven other hominid individuals, hippopotamus bones bearing cut marks from stone tools, and more than 600 stone tools, including hand axes. All are from the same sediments and, thus, the same era. [more + video]

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Conference to Take Back America Report

Sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future, June 4-6, 2003 in Washington, DC.
and
The Nation/John Nichols
Bill Moyers's Presidential Address posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Gore 2004?

I am just curious. Does anyone really think this is a possibility?? I have heard no buzz at all on this, other than the following sites, which I haven't investigated because I thought the possibility was nil.
Elect Gore 2004
Draft Gore.com posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

the road map to peace is all right turns. (thanks Craig)

MadKane has all the essentials today.

Emma has a great project: The Dossiers (more to come on Cheney, Ashcroft and Rumsfeld)

Norm of onegoodmove has a very cool list of anti-war songs, a report from the FNN (Future News Network) that simply rocks (!), and a thoughtful take regarding George Lakoff's ideas, from the book Moral Politics How Liberals and Conservatives Think.

I think I'll just shut up and read.
Sometimes I can't shut up while I'm reading. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

I Am Pissed!

I don't get pissed off very often. I am pissed off at George Bush and Co because they are, plain and simple; bullies!
Bullies do anything, including lying, to obtain what they deem to be power and influence.

Those who can, do
Those who can't, bully

Serial Bully Types:

• The Attention-Seeker
  
• The Wannabe
  
• The Guru
  
• Sociopath

Lisa English of RuminateThis is the latest victim of bullying by the very same blogger I alluded to yesterday in my post Enough Already!
Most people who come to this page know how highly I regard Lisa. They also know, if they've read her page, that she is not, as indicated in this bloggers words, 'The racist liberal: Lisa English.' Lisa was also attempting to say 'Enough Already' in reference to the bullying of Wampum, Natasha, and numerous others who've been bullied by this particular blogger. Lisa is now feeling the repercussions that Wampum talked about. I wonder if the blogger will put up a hate blog for Lisa too as she did with her Natasha Watch? (Oh...yes..she did make the hate blog private after it was linked to her page for a day. She said the link was given out without her permission. I saw it on her page myself and read what she was spewing.)

Don't we have enough to deal with regarding the idiots in office? We can't stand by and continue to feed this blogger's ego trip. I feel like my community has been invaded by a power hungry Bushie. I'm asking to stop the links, stop the encouragement, stop sending any emails attempting to reprimand her. We have to learn how to deal with bullies and perhaps we will learn how to get Bush out of office in the process!

If you are compelled to read the venom written in the past month or so, you can copy this link and have-at-it! I warn you, it's ugly. macaronies.blogspot.com

Like I said, I'm pissed! I think I might have been better off had I just read Cowboy Kahlil's page today and stayed tuned for part 2 of what promises to be quite enlightening and somehow related to this madness!
posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

If we feared the loss of radioactive materials, why not guard them?

The administration knew full well what was stored at Tuwaitha. So how is it possible that the U.S. military failed to secure the nuclear facility until weeks after the war started? This left looters free to ransack the barrels, dump their contents, and sell them to villagers for storage.
The Tuwaitha story makes a mockery of the administration's vaunted concern with weapons of mass destruction. [more]

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Levin Statement on Inquiry into U.S. Intelligence Prior to Iraq War

Since the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee has apparently decided not to have a joint inquiry at this time with the Armed Services Committee...

Through Act For Change Urge Senators Frist and Daschle, the Majority and Minority Leader respectively, to convene a select Senate committee immediately, with sufficient funding and investigative power, to learn the truth about what the Bush Administration really knew about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

New RubberSoul Newsletter


Friday the 13th FreakOut!
posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

This is Your Story - The Progressive Story of America. Pass It On.

by Bill Moyers

What will it take to get back in the fight? Understanding the real interests and deep opinions of the American people is the first thing. And what are those? That a Social Security card is not a private portfolio statement but a membership ticket in a society where we all contribute to a common treasury so that none need face the indignities of poverty in old age without that help. That tax evasion is not a form of conserving investment capital but a brazen abandonment of responsibility to the country. That income inequality is not a sign of freedom-of-opportunity at work, because if it persists and grows, then unless you believe that some people are naturally born to ride and some to wear saddles, it's a sign that opportunity is less than equal. That self-interest is a great motivator for production and progress, but is amoral unless contained within the framework of community. That the rich have the right to buy more cars than anyone else, more homes, vacations, gadgets and gizmos, but they do not have the right to buy more democracy than anyone else. That public services, when privatized, serve only those who can afford them and weaken the sense that we all rise and fall together as "one nation, indivisible." That concentration in the production of goods may sometimes be useful and efficient, but monopoly over the dissemination of ideas is evil. That prosperity requires good wages and benefits for workers. And that our nation can no more survive as half democracy and half oligarchy than it could survive "half slave and half free" – and that keeping it from becoming all oligarchy is steady work – our work. read it all!!

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Enough Already!!


I just cut into a melon that looked very nice on the outside. They're in the store in groves right now and everyone is buying them. If they were blogs, they'd be up there in the ecosystem with links a-plenty!

This particular melon was bitter and disgusting. Its home is now in my compost pile, with a small bite remaining in my belly to be digested. Perhaps the seeds will form a new, less disgusting, community, perhaps not.

I've been revisiting blogs since I've been back, much as I revisit melons in summer. Daintly Dirty wrote about a blogger who threw herself on the compost pile leaving behind one sentence; "Take very good care of you". It's an interesting discussion of the blog community. I often wonder why someone vanishes without explanation.

Tish and Ray initially pointed me to dd's discussion, and Tish has furthered the discussion on her page, discussing one question in particular, "What do bloggers owe each other?"

As I continued my stroll through the melon patch I stumbled into another bitter melon. Wampum has departed to the compost pile with a final troubling addendum. She is someone I will truly miss, a gentle soul with a sharp mind. Her addendum will only be posted for a few days at the link I give. She speaks of the reluctance of our community to say 'enough already' and points to 'crap like this'. (originating blog posted below in update, no perma link, but you'll get the idea) I see she found an exceptionally bitter melon dressed in blogger's clothing and stuffed with pasta. What I see is venomous, more bitter than a rotting melon. Do I feel I owe Wampum something? I feel I do. I feel that a community even a virtual community, needs to support and act with kindness. When there is a bad melon it shouldn't be rewarded with links, no matter how many people want to pucker-up, taste and attempt to digest the venom. That's what it's after.

Wampum writes: If any one of our blogging community attacked another due to their race, gender or sexual orientation, we'd never sit by and let it happen.
[...]
If we do not safeguard against prejudice in our own midst, we run the risk of losing our credibility when we call the opposition to the mat.
UPDATE macaronies.blogspot.com/
UPDATE 2 Enough it wasn't. I added more here. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Many Americans Unaware WMD Have Not Been Found

A striking finding in the new PIPA/Knowledge Networks poll is that many Americans are unaware that weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq. While 59% of those polled correctly said the US has not found Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, 41% said they believed that the US has found such weapons (34%) or were unsure (7%). via | seeing the forest posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

ePatriots or MoveOn?


Daily Kos has an idea floating, and actually implemented, which would help the DNC raise funds through weblogs called ePatriots While acknowledging that the DNC can use the funds to offset the massive amounts of funding corporations give to the GOP, I have concerns with the way this is implemented. At first and subsequent glances, a MLM (multi level marketing plan) springs to mind and immediately turns me off.

Kos says: the DNC sets up a Revenue Sharing-type program. You know the ones -- Amazon and CDNow and all those guys run them. You slap their books or ads on your site, and you get a cut of any sales they make originating from your site. In this case, the websites would not get a cut of the proceeds, their donations would simply be tallied. The more donations each site amassed, the more influence it would enjoy.

None of the funds would go directly to candidates and, although the blogging community itself could possibly have a stronger voice, I'm more inclined to support the candidate(s) directly, and support policy influence of my choosing through MoveOn, or ReclaimDemocracy. I can't say I always agree with Kos, or other influential websites that might directly influence policy as a result of this fundraising. Perhaps when the time comes for the DNC to foot the tab for advertising to offset GOP advertising I will change my mind, but for now, I'm much more interested in supporting the candidates and issues I personally feel strongly about. I just can't give money to an organization that might end up advertising for Lieberman! Regardless, kudos to Kos for the idea, and, at a tad over $4500 raised in 6 hours alone, I guess he can be proud!
posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Kucinich Reloaded



"I told Kucinich I believed in the ability of individuals to make a difference, yes, but that I had grown weary of the beautiful-loser syndrome in which progressives seemed locked.

It was then that Kucinich began scolding me.

He admonished my cynicism, saying I shouldn't go there: 'When you lose hope, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that can stop us from achieving that which may be just a little out of reach right now.”"

He referred to hope as an "imminent reality" -- "a reality that is waiting to be called forth." Indeed, one could say we called forth the right to vote for people who were not property owners, he said. We called forth the Emancipation Proclamation. We called forth the right of women to vote and the ability of young people to participate in the political process.

"My approach," he said simply, "is to try to draw the reality a little closer." Later, inside the theater, the congressman said it another way. Quoting Percy Bysshe Shelley from Prometheus Unbound, he spoke of "hope creating from its own wreck the thing that it contemplates." read it all
posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Bush lied, People died




U.S. Hunt for Iraqi Banned Weapons Slows

After nearly three months of fruitless searches, weapons hunters say they are now waiting for a large team of Pentagon intelligence experts to take over the effort, relying more on leads from interviews and documents.

"It doesn't appear there are any more targets at this time," said Lt. Col. Keith Harrington, whose team has been cut by more than 30 percent. "We're hanging around with no missions in the foreseeable future."

Saddam's trucks were for balloons, not germs

If Blair is questioned on the issue, he will concede that mistakes were made. re: the "dodgy dossier".

WMD Quotes Before & After The Invasion posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Kucinich: Show Us The Evidence, Mr. President


When I watched the Aaron Brown interview with Dennis Kucinich I was impressed with the way he came across. My dad was also watching, which gave me an impression of what an older, former republican, might think of Kucinich. The issue was the resolution of inquiry and Brown asked something to the effect of...
Some say that Saddam Hussein himself was a WMD.
Kucinich nodded as if he had heard that argument before, and Brown continued..if so, would you consider it to be a just war?
Dennis bluntly responded with.."Well...we haven't found him either!"
My dad loved it!

“It is long past time that the President and this Administration show its evidence,” stated Kucinich, the leader of the opposition to the war in Iraq in the House. “Today, we are introducing a Resolution of Inquiry to compel the White House to substantiate its claims. The President led the nation to war, and spent at least $63 billion on that war, on the basis of these unfounded assertions.”

Kucinich Leads 30 Members of Congress In Introducing A Resolution of Inquiry To Force Administration To Turn Over Intelligence On Iraq’s Weapons Of Mass Destruction

The resolution is a privileged resolution and must be voted on in Committee within 14 legislative days. Kucinich used the same procedure in March to force the Administration to release the 12,000 page weapon report that Iraq has submitted to the United Nations.

“This Administration owes an explanation to this Congress and to the American people,” continued Kucinich. “Now is the time for truth telling.”

Joining Kucinich on the Resolution are Reps. S. Brown, J. Carson, Conyers, Cummings, Farr, Frank, Grijalva, Hinchey, Honda, Jackson-Lee, Jackson Jr., Tubbs Jones, Kaptur, Lee, J. Lewis, Maloney, McDermott, George Miller, Nadler, Owens, Rahall, Schakowsky, Serrano, Scott, Stark, Van Hollen, Waters, Watson, and Woosley.



Contrast the actions of Kucinich with the nagging questions about Dean: Howard Dean: Hawk in Dove’s Clothing?
posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Wishes, Wants and Wellness


My trip to New Mexico was, all in all, quite nice. My mother is recovering quite steadily. Getting the quirks worked out with pain meds was the tough part. Her pathology report was good, but that type of surgery is rough on a 78 year old body. She said if she had known how bad it would be she wouldn't have done it. She really didn't have much choice.

I had a chance to get in some good reads, a good bit of George Lakoff's Moral Politics, watched CNN which I can't do at home, and was delighted to see Aaron Brown interview Dennis Kucinich, who, by the way, is impressing me more and more as the days go by. I have many thoughts that I will try to share over the next couple days, including my impression of my hometown newspaper which was bought by Gannett. (ugly thoughts) I soaked in the beautiful sunshine and mid-90 degree temps! I know what my body thrives on!! I ate a years supply of green chile, yum! and visited the best regional used bookstore Coas My Bookstore where I found an amazing bargain on Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here.

I want to thank everyone for all the wishes and good vibes. I'm hoping I didn't use them up because I'm asking for more. While I was away, I knew my Dear Friend Craig, had an appointment with an ENT, due to some problems with his voice. I wanted to think it was allergies, but, having had a diagnosis of esophageal cancer and the harrowing treatment that follows 2 years ago, he couldn't ignore it. The news wasn't good. It is a recurrence. Please keep him in your thoughts and wish him well.

I have many of his songs and videos linked on my page (multimedia, videos, mp3 and rm files) He has many of the same and more, plus lyrics, linked on his homelandabsurdity page and will update as he feels on his blog Cat's Blog

Craig was writing a new song when his voice started breaking. The lyrics and link to the recording are below. I'm a Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen fan...The rugged voice has character don'cha think?


posted by Cyndy | link |    | |