Revolution=Evolution

Making a Grass Roots Movement, NOW!

2008-11-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

This has been an incredible week! In Portland, within a half and hour after the polls closed on Tuesday, voters began loudly celebrating the election of Barak Obama. As a 42 year old woman, I can say that I have never seen an election night like this. With cars honking, people screaming, and assorted fireworks here and there--- it was livelier than any New Year's eves I can remember (indeed, livelier than most 4th of Julys-- possible exception of The Bicentennial), too. The relief and joy felt by so many in this country was palpable. I know that I, for one, am very happy that for the first time in 8 years, we will have a leader that can not only speak in full sentences, but that he does so most eloquently, and in a tone that sounds strong, open and welcoming-- which is a blessed change from the disjointed sneering phrases of W.

Obama ran on the idea of Hope and Change. He spoke of a new America that honored fairness. Our challenge is to now build on that momentum to actually craft what that change looks like, and to push like hell in that direction. This can be a truly profound transformation, if, and only if, we take this opportunity to coalesce a broad based grass roots movement. We must bring together a groundswell of support, not for any particular candidate, but to address the issue of economic justice at home--- calling for an immediate reversal of the massive redistribution wealth that has been ongoing since Reagan, and has accelerated dangerously in the last month. We must reinvigorate a movement that demands peace and diplomacy in our foreign policy, not endless wars propagated with a might-makes-right mentality. We must come together to loudly demand environmental sustainability, not as a green washing campaign, but as deep we take up the challenge of essentially changing our country's relationship to resource exploitation, and thinking ahead for about our impact on generations to come. It is imperative that we work together to demand the restoration of our constitutional rights-- ending spying on activists, and the demonization of dissent; to put an end to torture and to bring back a healthy habeas corpus; and there is so much more. As Norman Solomon notes in his article, A Mandate for Spreading the Wealth:

Obama and his activist base won a mandate for strong government action on behalf of economic fairness. But since election night, countless pundits and politicians have somberly warned the president-elect to govern from "the center." Presumably, such governance would preclude doing much to spread the wealth. Before that sort of conventional wisdom further hardens like political cement, national discussions should highlight options for moving toward a more egalitarian society.

I was not a big Obama supporter-- I can't turn a blind eye to the fact that he wants to continue our war in Afghanistan, and talks of "clean coal". I felt that the McKinney / Clemente ticket most represented my concerns, and had good plans to address them. Indeed, this is the first time I have ever convinced myself to vote not my conscience, but to choose based on my fear of the worser evil (I admit it, the thought of a Palin theocracy scared the bejeebus out of me). I have huge concern about his statements regarding adding heat to the fighting in Afghanistan, if he does this, I will be complicit in that murderous act (along with the rest of you that voted for him), so let's act now, together, and quickly, while this opening exists to push, push, PUSH Obama to take right action. Let's become to hard to ignore. This is where we begin to do the hard work of holding this new administration accountable to usher in the changes we want to see.

I am still adjusting to the idea of a country without W. Given how bad things have gotten, it will take a bit to remember what it was like to live in a country where dissent is an expected by-product of our democratic process in a "free" and diverse land, as opposed to being subjected to "If your not fer us, your agin us," tough guy talk. May this country not fall back into cynicism and apathy, because while Obama might not have all of the answers himself, working together in solidarity, we can supply him with some. And through our continued involvement, we will demand right action to move our country in a good direction. It's just that it will take all of us working together to be heard over corporate interests, and over some of his appointments (excuse me what? %?!?!*&$ Rahm Emanuel?!?!?!?).

This is the opening that many have been waiting for. Let's jump on through, together.

A Gathering of Dead -- The Wheel Turns

2008-11-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

I threw a little gathering at my place last Friday. All of my guests were dead. I made my Dad a peanut butter and honey sandwich. I made tea for my Gran, my Aunts Bett & Alice, and for my Uncle Jack. My old comrade Jan got a glass of port. Everyone got wheatmeal digestive biscuits, apples, and chocolate, and by Gran's request, soft boiled eggs. Of course, not wanting to be species-ist, my partner broke out some fine catnip for my old furry friend Newton. These loved ones, now dead, are invited and welcomed back into my home and life, along with a growing list of friends: Judi, Jasper, Jim, Bruce, to be honored, loved,and to renew our connections. That's what Samhain, Celtic New Year, or Halloween, is all about. A time to eat, drink, and connect again with our beloved dead. A time to renew our connection in the long chain of life, knowing that, in our turn, we too will pass, and new generations carry on the mantel of life on this plane.

On Saturday, I went to a concert wherein the dead were formally invited to come and dance. Jason Webley and Vagabond Opera combined their musical genius and put on a fabulous show. But that was only a part of the evening. At the side of the dance floor was a beautiful altar for the dead, with candles, food, flowers, pictures, skulls-a-plenty, and much love. Folks were encouraged to go to the altar and converse, play with, write notes to, or in some way interact with the dead / death / transformation. A large paper mache skull was on hand to receive notes of affirmation and the like; collecting the notes for a ritual following the concert.

As the music stopped, a procession started--- following Webley, who held aloft a very large paper mache tomato, a couple of hundred people created a joyous parade down the street and around the block about midnight. Celebrants shook rattles made of plastic bottles and coins, blessing and strengthening our connections, with ourselves, each other, and the dead. We ended up back at the venue, with a little fire made ready in a steel cart, decorated with skeletons and skulls; gathering 'round while the large skull with our collected notes inside was put on the flames. Smoke began to pour out of the hole cut in for the third eye. As the energy built, the flames engulfed the skull and the sky opened, and for a moment, there was an absolute downpour. When I have shared this story with a couple of friends well familiar with the ways of ritual, they told me that in their traditions that downpour is a sign of prayers being accepted by the spirits-- it certainly felt that way to me at the time. Three young women danced around the flames as we stood adding our energies to the affirmations going up in smoke. Shortly thereafter, a large fire truck and two cop cars stopped by, and a very nervous house manager ran about telling everyone "It was a great evening but everyone has to leave NOW!" It's hard to be a pagan in the city.

But of course, this isn't really a pagan thing. It's just stopping to note that at this time in our yearly cycle the veil between the worlds grows thinnest. Many cultures recognize this. You don't have to be a believer, just walk out amongst the fall leaves, feel the air on your face, and listen to the night-- and feel. There are other realities pressing against each other like soap bubbles-- and now the walls of that bubble are quite thin.

So much of American mainstream culture is really twisted up when it comes to death. It is, forgive the pun, morbidly afraid of it, and dictates that polite company avoids the subject at all costs. Part of this terror comes from the fear of separation-- of loss. It becomes a catch-22, since we are taught fear it, we want no reminders of it, and we abandon our dead, which reinforces that separation. This is so very different from the cultures that accept that death and life are inherently intertwined. Now we are on this side, and sometime we will be on the other, never really knowing when that transition will take us through. I have spent some time recently contemplating this, following the sudden death of a man that was becoming a friend. Paradoxically, I find that I appreciate life all the more when I work on accepting death.

And the wheel of the year turns--- in the Celtic traditions, the God is dead, and awaits rebirth on Winter's Solstice. It is the dark of the year, a time to go deep inside and vision what we need to do for ourselves and the world in the times ahead. This is the time of creating that seed / those visions. Oh, and a time to remember the dead, and to feast together, remember our families, ancestors, friends, and celebrate the connections that weave together this world.

A Bit About Domestic Terrorism

2008-10-24T23:49:00.000-07:00

Ever since 9/12, I have been very, very leery of the "terrorist" label.

I know that labels get applied to different people, well, differently--- according to where one sits in relation to the status quo. As many a great political cartoon has illustrated - spotting the difference between a "Freedom Fighter" and a "Terrorist" is entirely dependent upon your view.

All that said, I want to share my experience as someone who worked in a non-profit health center that provided clinical abortions. It was my job to check for bombs daily, when I unlocked the clinic for just above minimum wage. I got trained to open doors in a certain way, check several key points methodically, and to really check, double check and triple check all incoming mail before opening it.

This wasn't idle paranoia on the behalf of the health center. A couple of months before I started work with them, they received a letter bomb that was suspected by the receptionist, and the bomb squad was called out. The police verified that it was, indeed, a very live explosive, that was capable of leveling the building had it been opened. After it was reported, postal officials found three more in the mail addressed to other providers and the Planned Parenthood office. I have had people who spent their days protesting outside the clinic try to run me over a few blocks from work after hours, follow me on foot as I tried to walk home with friends, chase me in cars (at rather high speeds down Foster Rd), finally leaving me alone when I drove into the parking lot of the dike bar (couldn't thnk of a better place to take them). These people effectively terrorized me and my co-workers, daily. The fear that they created was palpable. How would it effect your day to know that you started by checking for bombs (for a reason), and that you were more likely than not to get some sort of death threat hurled at you by phone, mail or in person. I can vouch for this sort of thing really fucking with your morale.

So to get to the crux of this biscuit, enter Sarah Palin-- and her hyping of Bill Ayers as a domestic terrorist to paint Obama as a dangerous man since they have known each other in a vague progressive circle kind of Chicagoan way. Is tenured professor William Ayers a terrorist for his involvement in The Weathermen, 30+ years ago? Sarah says "There is no question...." But someone who has bombed a clinic that provides abortions? If the gods of embedding video are with me, just play this for Sarah's answer.

Let's face it, saving the unborn is thinking ahead for this crowd--- they need them for cannon fodder later.

Army Begins Active Duty Assignments in the Homeland

2008-09-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

Look the fuck out-- this seems bad!

I haven't found any other articles, but this comes straight from the horses mouth, as it were. Has anyone else seen anything about this?

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

from the Army Times, September 8th, 2008

some choice excerpts:
3rd Infantry's 1st BCT trains for a new dwell-time mission. Helping 'people at home' may become a permanent part of the active Army.

"The 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they're training for the same mission — with a twist — at home." .......

"In the meantime, they'll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack." ....

"The 1st BCT's soldiers also will learn how to use "the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded," 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

" 'It's a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they're fielding. They've been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we're undertaking we were the first to get it.'

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets."

-------------

Gee, I am feeling safer already. Nothing says "I care" like a boot on the neck.

On Broadcasting Dada, and Narrow-Mindedness

2008-09-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

KBOO broke ground again last week when we cleared the schedule for a special called: 101 Hours of Innumerable Small Events Which May or May Not Be Related to One Another-- A Celebration of Dada and Surrealism. We had ran a three day Dada special six or seven years ago, and while it had impact, this event generated MUCH more feedback.

For the whole of the two business days of the festival (which began Wednesday evening, August 27, and ran through midnight, August 31), our phone rang off of the hook. Primarily people were confused, though many were very upset. There were also those who phoned to praise us, but they were a decided minority, at least at first. KBOO received emails from volunteers, friends and listeners, asking why, in these important political times, we were choosing to run this "puerile, self-indulgent noise". Don't we realize there are elections, and conventions, and wars, and stuff? My god, what have we done with Amy Goodman??? The calls continued throughout the weekend, taken by the various deejays, who explained things in very different ways....

A few members swore they would never support us again, though I know more than a couple of folks who said if we played this experimental stuff more often, they would support us again.... hmmm, tricky balance that. I understand if Dada is not your cup of tea. I understand you turning the dial and not giving it 101 hours to grow on you (though by at least a couple of friends' accounts, it did grow on them by Saturday afternoon). It's the tendency to insult that which we do not understand that dismays me--- I had thought that KBOO listeners may be a bit more open than that. After all, our program charter says that "KBOO's arts, cultural and music programming shall cover a wide spectrum of expression from traditional to experimental, and reflect the diverse cultures we serve. KBOO shall strive for spontaneity and programming excellence, both in content and technique." I guess that this was just too experimental for some folks.... I can almost here it, "We support experimental arts and spontaneity, just don't fuck with Democracy Now!" Or, "Hey you bohemians, you already have programming 3.5 nights a week in the wee pre-dawn hours-- don't get greedy."

There is a troubling lack of understanding, both of our charter and of the Dada arts movement, that clearly shines through in the comments chastising us for airing such material during such a politically important time. Having the festival run the hours it did, meant that we forsook traditional public affairs programming for TWO DAYS! Don't get me wrong--- I love KBOO public affairs, I have listened to KBOO's public affairs since the late '70s, when I was but a tadpole. And I am a political junkie--- I really do love following news and current events, and do so pretty constantly. But please! A little break is good for the soul-- and if this wasn't the time you wanted to take a break, you can inform yourself in any of a number of ways (for two days, love of Pete, just two days), and end up at a coffee shop with friends to actually process some of the information we are endlessly taking in.

The irony that slaps me in the face about this is that Dada is an anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti-establishment art movement, born of the disillusionment following WWI. This is what really saddened me when I received emails from liberals and progressives taking the station to task for being so self indulgent when there were important political events to cover. Do they not think art can be political? Is art not an important part of our culture, and does it not inform our politics? In fact, far from being irrelevant as some claimed, I can't think of any more relevant programming to broadcast at this time that no sense makes sense. When life is absurd, only the absurd will do. I am going to guess that most of our disgruntled listeners have no idea of the history behind Dada, and some might not care. For those that do care about the history of this brilliant movement, I want to share an excerpt from the preface of the program schedule for the special:

It's 1918. You're young and living in Berlin. You're a little dazed to have survived the mass-slaughter of World War I. You feel sorrow and anger that so many of your friends and family were killed, mutilated, driven mad by the first mechanized war with weapons of mass slaughter, the first with a new mental damage called "shell shock."

Like your surviving friends, you have only contempt for your "civilization" and its masters whom blame and condemn the structures of your culture: the state, the church, the press, capitalism, the academies, the arts -- you ridicule them all.

Your friends are pacifists, artists, communists, anarchists, all shades of ists; but you have gone beyond them to question reason itself. Because you have no idea why the war was ever fought. For what?

You uneasily recognize the great fearful and violent unconscious of humanity has surfaced catching everyone, including yourself, completely unaware. You see that visions of mass-annihilation have entered the European imagination. You sense even worse atrocities to come.

You gather with friends at clubs and to write and perform satires, poems, manifestos and attacks, writing them in violation of all the rules. You print art and writings on cheap paper for mass distribution. You develop an anti-art, anti-rules, anti-logic, anti-reason, anti-structure approach to artistic creation, calling Dada; scraping away surface consciousness to uncover and probe what lies beneath. A basis for a true art of the people?

You notice as your Dada festivities progress, you all become a little more than just giddy. It begins to develop some purpose, generating explorations of altered states of consciousness through art and sound. Your friends talk of achieving the "marvelous" and "fields of light;" it would sound mystical if you weren't so dead set against religion....

Imagine: The Marvelous!!!"

That's why I think that this Celebration of Dada and Surrealism, at this time-- conventions, and all-- was actually a critically important thing to do.

This special brought together scores of volunteers and guest artists who began collaborating on pieces last spring-- creating original music, recording plays and poetry, producing audio, arranging and creating simulcasts on cable access, and showing rare surrealist short films in the KBOO lobby late one evening. In short, it gave reason to create a community of artists who inspired each other to do excellence, and to reach further. That is a political act, and that is one of the essences that blends into the whole of a great community radio station.

Viva Dada.
Viva Art, Truth & Beauty.
Viva KBOO.

Happy Lammas, Y'all

2008-09-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

In honor of today being the euro-pagan day of Lammas (well, it was when I wrote this, some five-weeks ago,on Aug 1st), I am going to focus on the wheel of the year, and what this time of year means to many of us. Watching the earth through the pagan year's holy days is one way to see ourselves connected to a recurrent cycle of birth, growth, diminishment, death, rest and rebirth. Today is Lammas, which is the half-way point between Beltaine and Samhain. This is the first celebration after the summer solstice, when the year is at its peak of solar energy-- the god at his zenith of power. This marks the god's
aging, and as John Barleycorn, he is cut down in the gathering of the grains.

Let's pause for a moment and look at this in context-- how the year's cycle and changing of the seasons can be told in one story or myth:

Lammas is celebrated August 1st. It is the festival of the first harvests. It is a very opportune time to assess what you are manifesting, how is it coming in? What do you need to prune, adjust, reshape? This is the time that the god grows older, waning in energy,
while the goddess as mother harvests the seeds and nurtures the god growing within her, awaiting his re-birth.

The next turning point is Mabon, or Fall Equinox, a time to celebrate balance. Projects and goals that were dreamed in the winter and started in the spring come to fruition. It is a time to give thanks for what has come into your life and to prepare for the more introspective times ahead. The god, old now, rests after harvest-- preparing for his death.

The last turn of the year is Samhain, better known in this country as Halloween. This is a time of dreaming, of communion with the dead, and those spiritual allies that are not incarnate. The veil separating this physical world from the land of the dead and the faery grows the
thinnest at this time of year, making it a great time to gain advice and contemplate visions to guide you through this dark and introspective time. The god dies on this day, and old year passes
away. The world lies fallow, resting until the god's rebirth.

And the re-birth happens at the Winter Solstice. The new year, full of hope and potential as it stretches out ahead of us. It is time to do deep introspective work to make clear your own intentions and goals to your own self. As the new sun grows in strength, what aspirations
do we want to grow into reality? What can we do to give strength to that new world that has justice, love and laughter at its core?

Next comes Imbolc. Traditionally, this involves a feast dedicated to Brigid, on February 1st or 2nd. This is the beginning of spring, as the lambs are born, and signs of life begin to appear in earnest, giving hope that the greening of the year is getting under way. This
is a time of beginnings, and initiation. The god is still in infancy, but gaining strength, the goddess rests after birth, readying herself for the Rites of Spring, celebrated at the next turning point.

Ostara, aka the Spring Equinox—the Rites of Spring. This is a time to celebrate the fertility of the goddess in her Maiden role, and the god grows well into his youth. This is a time to nurture and feed what we have started, and see what else needs to be manifested in our lives.
This is the time of the planting—laying tangible foundations for your ideas and projects.

Beltaine is a celebration of sexuality, and the year turns to early summer. Traditionally celebrated by erecting a Maypole, and dancing during the day, giving way to bonfires and sex at night. This is the time that the god becomes a man through his union with the goddess.
As the poem goes: "Hooray! Hooray! for the 1st of May, Outdoor fucking begins today!"
Alright, it's probably not an ancient poem, but I have to say, I like the sentiment.

Then we move into Summer Solstice, or Midsummer, which was the last holy day before today. This is the time of the god enjoying the apex of his power. A time of great expansive energy and celebration. This is the time to focus your power to give your dreams "lift off". Play
hard. Think of the energy as a drum circle reaches that fevered frenzied climax. Manifest!!!

Which brings us back to today.

I thought it important to look at the full year, as often people ask me how they can strengthen their connection with the earth, how can they feel more like they are a part of that big cycle. To me, one of the best ways to do this is to go out into a place during each of these turning points and to observe the changes, season by season. It doesn't matter if that spot is in a forest, a park, or your yard-- what matters is that you spend a little time, at least every six weeks, getting to know it. Watching how the plants change, which birds are there-- how the place sounds and smells, what the vibe is, through out the year, and how those changes relate to your own life.

So a little more about Lammas. As I mentioned, it is the celebration of the first harvests – the cutting of the grains and the corn. This is a holy day of transformation, for after the grains are cut, they are milled into flour and turned into bread to give us all sustenance. In a more mythic take, the god's sacrifice is seen through the personification of the grain into John Barleycorn, and his sacrifice. Another way to see it is that the bounty of solar energy is embodied in the grains now ripe for harvest, and it is time to prepare for the leaner months, which lie just ahead.

For people interested in holding a simple ceremony to mark this day, a great way to do it is to bake bread. While you are kneeding the dough you can focus on the connections within your community/ friends and family-- those with whom you will be eating the bread with later. Kneed thanks into the bread for the harvests, for sustenance, and for the love and connections in your life.

Invite loved ones over to eat this bread with you-- reflect on how much you have accomplished this year, and what more you need to do to feel satisfied. It is the holiday to assess how you can best adopt, adapt and improve your plans. While sharing the bread, don't forget to toss a chunk out for spirit-- making offerings is another way to experience deeper connections.

You can decorate your table with stalks of grains, and ask yourself and others what you need and how to support one another through the coming winter. Are there sacrifices that you need to make now to be reaped in the future?

You can braid those stalks of grains and keep them through the winter to keep the spirit of the harvest present until the next growing season.

So I want to hear how your year is going-- what are you harvesting, and what do you want from your community? What are you giving to your community? I am also interested in hearing about your celebrations-- what traditions do you keep?

Change Now!

2008-09-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

It's my 42nd birthday (rather it was six-weeks ago, when I wrote this on July 18th), and I have very recently returned home from the Oregon Country Fair. As I assess my life at this turning point in my year, I am overall very, very grateful for the community of which I am a part, for love and laughter, for food and shelter, for right livelihood, for the spark of divinity we all share, and for the beauty of the earth surrounding me.

To all of my friends, family, community cohorts--- I thank you for enriching my life.

Let's look for further and deeper ways to create the new world founded in compassion, truth, & beauty. Let's make this week's headlines the impetus to do it now. Why not?

Big news of economic hard times this week-- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in a bad way. Huh, who'da figured? Some people seem surprised, others wryly cynical, but no matter your attitude, in the end we need to strategize a way through the collapse of this system.

But wait, what if this isn't really the big, BIG collapse.... you've heard it before--- people are always crying the end of the world, and all. What about Y2k? The nuclear doomsday clock? It's tiring to live with an impending apocalypse. Still, here is another moment that the old system teeters.... we know, absolutely, that empires fall; they are like a house of cards-- I propose that we withdraw more of our support from this empire's base, and be ready when the house comes down. We know that this system is not sustainable, as no other empire has lasted, neither will this one. So why wait? It does little good to visualize radical transformation of our society and then be unprepared for the moments that are ripe for further transformations to unfold.

So how do we ready ourselves for the transformation? How can we work together to make a new community that is far more self reliant than the community we woke up in today? We don't need external experts, but we do need to be smart about organizing our resources. What networks and support systems can we help to form now? What do we take for granted? How much non-perishable food do you have in your house? What's your access like to fresh produce? Does the food you eat get trucked in from around the globe, heavily dependent on the oil industry to reach your table? What very practical skills do you have that you can share with your community? Can you make medicines? Build shelters? Clothing? Can you entertain, make music, spin stories and create the new myths to weave together our new world? How's your water use going? How are you at gardening & identifying edible foods? Do you know how to preserve foods? If you know how, do you do it?

It's time to put solidarity into action-- being kind to each other is not only pleasant, but will actually increase our viability-- we are stronger together, than alone. We must stand strong together-- lest we be vulnerable to being swept up in xenophobic propaganda. It is crucial that we deeply listen to each other, so that we can actively support one another. To work in solidarity with each other pivots on our basic understanding of each other's issues and needs, and to find how they connect with our own.

How's your consumption lately? I know that I am mending more things than I had been for a while. Remember the WWII jingle: Use it up, wear it out; make it do, or do without-- that certainly has a place now.

On the fourth of July, Cicely Rogers joined me on the talk radio show. She emphasized the importance of doing the work of readying ourselves to take advantage of opportunities to transform. I want to suggest that the time is now, right now, to engage in solidarity. Check in with those around you-- what needs aren't being met? How can you organize people to meet them? Is there a need to care for kids while some work? Is there a need to have help in a garden that folks without land can share? Do people have enough to eat? If not, can you organize feedings? It's time to get down to basics.

Check into our history-- there are brilliant examples of community defense and mutual aid. Check the actual history of the Black Panthers, of the Wobblies and late 19th century anarchists, of the 17th century Diggers. What can we learn and take with us. What do we want to create fully new?

What am I going to do differently, starting today, to help actualize this world? What are you going to do?

Healing Our World Requires Healing Ourselves

2008-06-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Last week I spoke Robert Jensen, who is a wonderfully radical author, organizer, and associate professor at University of Texas at Austin.

Jensen has written a new book entitled, Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. In it he examines the effect that porn has on us as consumers, and the effect that it has on the pervasiveness of violence against women in our current culture. He also examines how gender role socialization keeps men from being fully human, and ensure isolation, over compassion-- conquest over passion.

He makes a very compelling case, the new "gonzo" extreme porn is hardly the campy stuff I watched with friends, feeling all manner of libertine. This stuff is a not even veiled glorification (let alone reinforcement) of violence against women, and the cruelly detached macho guy persona. I would argue that this new porn really has little to do with sex and arousal, but much more to do with power over women, and assertion of male dominance. Why else would scenes end with women having their heads stuck in toilets that are flushed while the guy ejaculates on her back--- I ask what is sexy about that? And I ask this as someone who is not, by just about any stretch of the imagination, a prude--- just a compassion human being, who is concerned about what it says when men jerk off to images of women's heads being flushed.

He argues that it is a cycle of disconnection. That as we feel isolated, men may hold onto that one thing that started this cycle, and hold on tightly, they may not be able to feel tenderness, love, empathy, but at least they are a real man, prized in our society for being invulnerable, strong, and all those other things that go into "masculine".

He quotes men in the industry, and consumers of porn talking about how when they view porn they want to see a woman hurt, because they can fantasize that it's that bitch that hurt him, slighted him, rejected him--- and now she will pay.

Right--- I am disturbed by this.

I have often shied away from a public discussion on violence against women in porn, as there is always a rush of acceptance from a part of the movement that is steeped in puritanism. And this is not where I am coming from.

As I mentioned earlier, I do tend towards the libertine. I argue that sexuality, sensuality and pleasure are deeply personal things, and what works for some, does not have to work for all, and certainly do not require anyone's approval. As a bisexual gal, I didn't fit neatly into categories, and since my attraction is primarily to women, I have often accepted the term dyke, both for short hand, and for shock value. Besides, I have often found that "bisexual woman" in this culture too often is interpreted as "will sleep with a girl for her boyfriend's fantasies", at least by men.

As a radical feminist, I continued to break through stereotypes when I openly acknowledged that I enjoy SM play, as one of many ways of sexual expression. This was a center of raging debate at the Michigan Women's Music Festival, during my years as a worker-- I remember friends looking at me sadly, asking why I wanted to perpetuate the patriarchy (um, that just wasn't what was going through my head when I was, well, playing).

As a free speech advocate, I am very hesitant to engage in attempting legislation to limit what can be produced. When the first of such laws were enacted in Canada in the 1980s, the Canadian police raided a queer bookstore, and confiscated lesbian s/m erotica. I learned from that example--- the state has no interest in actually fighting patriarchy; their attempts to do so are comparable to the U$ fighting for freedom abroad, while actually spreading imperialism, and internalizing repression at home.

So what to do? How do we stop this cycle of disconnection and subjugation, without trying to legislate morality, or allowing another's morals to dictate my own practice?

At root, is getting over the enforced hierarchies assigned in our culture. Getting over the labels of masculine / feminine, getting over the dichotomous thinking that restricts our interactions to those of superior/inferior, and keeps us pitted against one another. Rigid gender role socialization continues. I still hear kids get fag baited-- boys who might actually show sensitivity being told that if they continue, they will be labeled a fag, and that comes with an inherent understanding that you are lesser, and that you could be beaten, or killed, for your transgressions. Did I mention that nationwide, violence against queers is up over 20% in the last year? As progressives, as caring and thinking people, we must decry the roots of this hierarchy, we must work to end gender socialization, and work to end homophobic violence that enforces the system.

It means a lot of honest introspection about what we have been taught. There are still a lot of people believing that the difference between rape and seduction is a sales job. We have a lot of un-learning to do, and that can best be done together, when we engage in honest conversation, as human beings, trying to live lives of empathy, empowerment and compassion.

Ahh, but as products of this system ourselves, how can we do this work? It takes courage, and love-- love for yourself and for the lot of us.

Let's begin. Let's dismantle the patriarchy.

May Day!

2008-05-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

Happy May Day!

The wheel of the year turns, and we all know that a turning wheel creates revolution, right?

Celebrate this joyous day, the greening of the year, the lives that we share-- interwoven into our community.

Do what you can to break out of your usual routine and recognize the sacred: within yourself, within the earth, within each other. The ancient idea of ritual was to do just that, to create a time where the usual is suspended, and we engage with the mysteries that surround us all the time. Make your own ritual, it just needs to be meaningful for you-- it isn't for anyone else. It need not involve May Poles, nor Morris Dancing. You don't even need a field or a bon fire (but hey, they are nice to utilize, if you happen to have 'em).

A few of my suggestions would be:

dance, ecstatically, alone or with friends
sing loudly
make love
watch birds
sit under a tree and connect with it- seriously, this is not just a cliche
watch a river, and listen to what it tells you
fuck
laugh out loud
say hello to strangers while looking them in the eye
walk in a way that pleases you
feel yourself in your body, love yourself
converse with divinity: god/dess / spirit
En-Joy!!!

Let us all soak up the high energy of this holiday, this turning point, and let us re-write the game and re-create the world, together. Let that new world honor the individual, and the collective (as if this is an either or, dualistically limited choice!); let it celebrate and promote love, beauty, justice, sensuality, balance, sustainability, truth.

Many blessings to all on this day.
With Love, So Mote It Be!

May Day A-Comin'

2008-04-25T17:59:00.001-07:00

Celebration of May Day is just around the corner. May Day has been celebrated as one of the eight turning points of the Celtic / old European pagan calendar. It is also a day to honor workers, martyrs
and the eight hour day.

Let's start there:

In 1884, The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886. The resolution called for a general strike to achieve the goal, since legislative methods had already failed. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly, despite the indifference and hostility of many union leaders. By April 1886, 250,000 workers were involved in the May Day movement.

At the center of the struggle, was the Chicago anarchist group called the International Working People's Association. As the strike was popular among rank and file workers, the state showed their fear of the people's power by buying new weapons for an increased police and national guard force, including a $2000 machine gun, to be used against the strikers. On May 3rd, 1886, the Chicago police opened fire on the crowd at the McCormick Reaper Works Factory, killing four and wounding many. Anarchists called for a mass meeting the next day in Haymarket Square to protest the brutality. That's right, Haymarket Square.

The meeting proceeded without incident, but as the last person was on the platform to speak, and the assembled started to break up, nearly 200 police marched into the square and ordered the meeting to disperse. As the speakers climbed down from the platform, a bomb was thrown at the police, killing one and injuring seventy. Police responded by firing into the crowd, killing one worker and injuring many others.

It was never determined who threw the bomb. The rest is a history that repeats itself to this day. Using the bombing as an excuse, police ransacked the homes and offices of suspected radicals, and hundreds were arrested without charge. Anarchists in particular were harassed, and eight of Chicago's most active were charged with conspiracy to murder in connection with the Haymarket bombing. A kangaroo court found all eight guilty, despite a lack of evidence connecting any of them to the bomb-thrower. In fact, the only one of the eight to actually be seen at the meeting was the man who was speaking at the time of the bombing. All eight men were sentenced to die.

Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolf Fischer, and George Engel were hanged on November 11, 1887. Louis Lingg committed suicide in prison. The remaining three were finally pardoned in 1893.

The Haymarket Martyrs served to galvanize the anarchist movement. Emma Goldman, remarked that the Haymarket affair fostered her political birth. Lucy Parsons was the widow of Albert Parsons. She called upon the poor to direct their anger toward those responsible for the murders of the organizers. The responsible being business associations who funded the increased police. Instead of disappearing, the anarchist movement only grew in the wake of Haymarket, spawning other radical movements and organizations, including the Industrial Workers of the World.

Although May Day observance began in the United States, it is not officially nor popularly recognized as a holiday here. Indeed, in 1958 Congress declared May 1st as Loyalty Day, in a direct attempt to bury its radical roots during the cold war.

Right—we'll get back to political movements in a moment, but now let's go to the European Pagan celebrations of the day.

May Day marks the turning point of the year when the God who was born on Solstice and grown by spring equinox, now consummates the eternally cyclical courtship between Goddess and God, Lady and her sacred Consort.

As above, so below! And so it goes that as the sacred union of the Goddess and God happens, the people celebrated by dancing the May Pole, which in itself is overtly sexual, and end the night with bon fires and pairing off to go and make love in the fields. This act connected the people of the land with the land itself. Also, it connected them with the gods, knowing that they were a part of the sacred cycle of the year, and the connections made the world whole.

So much has been stripped out of our history, of our collective consciousness. What does mainstream America know of either of these rich traditions? We are a sanitized and domesticated people. We have been colonized—our minds have been colonized, and we have lost history. In the eye of the storm, we find ourselves working well past an 8 hour day, and most people think of anarchists as bomb throwing black clad nihilists.

Unlike our ancestors in the fields, we are taught that we are completely separate from the world around us. While it is reluctantly conceded that we do live on the earth, we certainly don't see ourselves as a part of the earth and her cycles. Mainstream US society does not encourage, nor really allow, people to interweave our lives with one another. We are disconnected from most of our needs, and are reduced to consumers.

So do something revolutionary for May Day this year. Remember our past as we create our future. Commit the revolutionary act of seeing
yourself as part of the whole. Know that your life is important, and
that what you do matters! Break habits of alienation. Actively do
something to connect with some one, or some place. Empower yourself to find sustainable ways to meet your needs. Let's take food for an example—we all need it.

In the old model: All food is local, produced by the village. We are connected to the sowing, growth and harvest of the food that we will eat. If we don't farm ourselves, our neighbors do, and we interact with them daily.

In the new model: Food is grown elsewhere. We work to gain cash to buy food products cheaply from MegaMart. This food may bear little resemblance to anything that came from a farm--- Blazin' Buffalo Wing Cool Ranch Dorritos, anyone? Yow! Not only do we not see where are food comes from, we live in a state of deliberate denial about how it is produced. We don't want to know about factory farming, or the death sprayed everywhere to control so called pests, or the exploitation of the laborers that actually work to grow the food, and the workers that process it. Our main connection to our food is found through the labyrinthine parking lots and long lines of the hyper stimulating megamart. Our prayers are now focused on making it out of the store quickly, and that we have enough money to cover the bill.

Don't you think it's time we stop this?

May Day is next week, good people. It is a day of power; a day of putting a whole lot of conscious intent into manifesting what we need. It is time to sow our seeds.

What is our vision for the new world that we want to bring into being? Arundahti Roy says that the other world is just around the corner, and that in quiet moments, we can hear it breathing. Let's take a moment to listen to it right now-- listen to your hearts. What does our new world look like? Tell us! Don't keep your visions to yourselves! Share them, and let's bring this new world into being.

Time to transition ourselves and our world. Let us create together.

2007-12-21T16:30:00.000-08:00

The Wheel Turns

Here we are at Winter Solstice, after a long dark night, the light returns for the next six months—each day growing a bit brighter than the one before. By the Celtic calendar, this day marks the halfway point of winter, and we can look forward to spring beginning on Imbolc, February 2^nd.

In in my branch of earth based spirituality, this marks the beginning of the year; as the light returns, so the cycle is again renewed. During the long night of Solstice, it is a great time to think about all that you want to shed. What is no longer serving you? What do you want to leave behind as the wheel turns. And since balance is always important, as the sun grows stronger, it is time to envision what you want to increase in your life, community and world. As every good pagan knows, nature abhors a vacuum-- whenever you rid yourself of something, it will behoove you to give thought to what you are making room for. Remember, the personal is political, and the political is personal; you don't need to be limit your meditations to your individual life—this can also reflect wishes for your community and your world.

Being an animist, pagan, spiral walking type, I love following the cycle of the year, and see the changing of the seasons as the eternal dance of the goddess and god, known by many names. The goddess is constant, with no beginning, and never ending. She is always transforming; throughout the year, we experience her as the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone, and then back again, seamlessly. The god's cycle follows that of the lifespan that we know, beginning with birth on Winter's Solstice, and ending with death at Samhain. Throughout the year, these archetypes, or powers, change in season with the world around us.

Let's start with today, the Winter Solstice. As I have said, this is the time that the cycle renews. As the Sun is re-born, a new year begins with bright and shining potential. As the new sun grows in strength, what aspirations do we want to grow into reality? What can we do to give strength to that new world that has justice, love and laughter at its core?

Next comes Imbolc. Traditionally, this involves a feast dedicated to Brigid. This is the beginning of spring, as the lambs are born, and signs of life begin to appear in earnest, giving hope that the greening of the year is getting under way. This is a time of beginnings, and initiation. The god is still in infancy, but gaining strength, the goddess rests after birth, readying herself for the Rites of Spring, celebrated at the next turning point.

Ostara, aka the Spring Equinox—the Rites of Spring. This is a time to celebrate the fertility of the goddess in her Maiden role, and the god grows well into his youth. This is a time to nurture and feed what we have started, and see what else needs to be manifested in our lives. This is the time of the planting—laying tangible foundations for your ideas and projects.

Beltaine is a celebration of sexuality, and the year turns to early summer. Traditionally celebrated by erecting a Maypole, and dancing during the day, giving way to bonfires and sex at night. This is the time that the god becomes a man through his union with the goddess. As the poem goes:

"Hooray! Hooray! for the 1st of May,
Outdoor fucking begins today!"

Alright, it's probably not an ancient poem, but I have to say, I like the sentiment.

At Summer Solstice, or Midsummer, the god enjoys the apex of his power. This is a time of great expansive energy and celebration. This is the time to focus your power to give your dreams "lift off". Play hard. Think of the energy as a drum circle reaches that fevered frenzied climax. Manifest!!!

Lammas is celebrated August 1^st. It is the festival of the first harvests; assess what you have manifested, how is it coming in? What do you need to prune, adjust, reshape? This is the time that the god grows older, waning in energy, while the goddess as mother harvests the seeds and nurtures the god growing within her, awaiting his re-birth.

At Mabon, or Fall Equinox, we celebrate balance. Projects dreamed in the winter and started in the spring come to fruition. It is a time to give thanks for what has come into your life and to prepare for the more introspective times ahead. The god, old now, rests after harvest-- preparing for his death.

The last turn of the year is Samhain. This is a time of dreaming, of communion with the dead, and those spiritual allies that are not incarnate. The veil separating this physical world from the land of the dead and the faery grows the thinnest at this time of year, making it a great time to gain advice and contemplate visions to guide you through this dark and introspective time. The god dies on this day, and old year passes away. The world lies fallow, resting until the gods rebirth.

Which brings us back to today.

The winter solstice technically happens at 10:08 tonight, Pacific Standard Time, but this turning point, like all pagan holidays, encompasses a short span of time as energies grow and shift. Pagan holidays don't really work in a binary sort of on/off switch way. The lessons of each season coming daily before our eyes. So as we move into this time of renewal, ask yourself what you want to transform or renew in your own life. What are you making room for? What are you leaving behind?

************************************

And then there is the global orgasm for peace. A movement to have everyone in the world orgasm at the time of solstice (yes, 10:08 PM tonight, PST, adjust for local time), while thinking about world peace. Sort of the next step in the "Make love, not war", philosophy.

While I think that we have to do much more then cum for peace to change the world, I do believe that consciousness creates reality, and good sex is a great way of raising energy, so why not? Besides, it sounds like fun.

FCC Contact Information Update-- Seems things are Tricky

2007-12-17T23:43:00.000-08:00

I received several calls today telling me that when the person called the clever number from the FCC website (1-888-CALL-FCC), they were told that this wasn't a number for comments, or to talk about FCC issues.

Go figure.

The FCC doesn't make it easy for the public to communicate-- ironic that communications is their middle name.

So with a few more clicks on their site I have found the following information from the "finding people at the FCC page":
The phone number of the chair (who is the man pushing the vote to end the ban on cross-ownership, allowing big media even greater hegemony) Martin Kevin (202) 418-1000
The phone number for Robert McDowell is 202.418.2200. Word has it that McDowell is not wild about lifting the ban, and polite calls to him are probably a great idea.
The phone number for Deborah Taylor Tate is 202.418.2500. It's unclear if she supports lifting the ban at this time, she probably needs to hear some opinions.
The phone number for Jonathan Adelstein is 202.418.2300. He has said publicly that rushing this vote through is a big mistake, he doesn't support lifting the ban-- always good to call and say thanks (how often to FCC Commissioners hear that?).
The phone number for Michael Copps is 202.418.2000. Along with Adelstein, Copps has spoken strongly against lifting the ban-- thank him, too.

You can email each commissioner from his / her contact page, just click their name above and scroll to the bottom, where you'll see a link to an online form for comments, marked "email".

Seems to me that the number listed at the bottom of each page of the FCC's website (that is 1-888-CALL-FCC) might be a number that the public could call to try to communicate with the commission, but what do I know? Just seems to me that it shouldn't be this hard; it's almost like the some in the commission don't like being in touch with the people, as it were.

Thanks to everyone that has contacted them, or is going to contact them in the morning. I really want to hear your experience, if you are able to get through to any staffers.

Good luck!

FCC Chairman Determined to Vote Dec 18th to Repeal the Cross-Ownership Ban

2007-12-17T01:39:00.000-08:00

FCC Chair, and Bush loyalist, Kevin Martin, is pushing for a vote of the FCC on December 18, to end a ban on some media cross-ownership. He is proposing that the FCC ease the cross-ownership ban in the top 20 U.S. markets. Currently, this regulation keeps a company from holding a broadcast outlet and print daily in the same market.

It's not exactly like there is a vigorous diversity of ownership at this time-- six mega-corporations filter much of what we see now. Given the problems that we have recently experienced with all major corporate media failing to inform the public when the administration was manufacturing the case to invade and occupy Iraq, how is less competition going to be better?

We need more diversity in media ownership, not less. When the corporation is able to control what you see on television, hear on radio and read in the daily paper (not to mention manage the news website) they are able to reinforce their message in a closed loop. The public looses the ability to check out news stories or even entertainment media from diverse perspectives. This leads us, as a general public, to be easily duped and manipulated by the elite that direct and own the major media.

You can call the FCC today to register your comments against Martin's proposal. Let the FCC commissioners know that you care about media ownership, and are paying attention. You can call the FCC at 1-888-CALL-FCC (that's 1-888-225-5322) or you can email comments to them through their website www.fcc.gov.

You can find more information at the website Stop Big Media, and while you are there spend a couple of minutes watching the video "Junk News is Making You Sick"--it's worth it.

Waging Peace -- Taking Responsibility

2007-12-08T20:10:00.000-08:00

We talk a good deal about the horrors of war. As progressives, we have taken to the streets, written letters to representatives and letters to the editors, staged die-ins, created documentaries and poetry, and many other things to try to bring an end to the war and occupation of Iraq. The body counts are tremendous with nearly 4,000 officially acknowledged US dead, and over 1 million Iraqis dead (which is a number 3 times greater than the number reported in most U$ media).

As American's we have a responsibility in this madness being perpetrated by "our" government, in our name, with our money. It is our moral imperative to do what we can to stop this terror, and also to mitigate the suffering that has been done in our name, for the benefits of the ruling elite.

Last Friday, I interviewed Maxine Fookson, a Portland pediatric nurse practitioner who started a local chapter of No More Victims. She got the idea when she was listening to Democracy Now! on KBOO, and heard a man named Cole Miller talk about his work with national group.

No More Victims (http://nomorevictims.org) is an organization that works to alleviate the suffering of Iraqis, especially children, by providing essential medical supplies and services. Remember that this war for "liberation" has demolished most of Iraq's infrastructure, and the situation is hellish. Even without the incredibly vicious war, the situation is dire: according to an OXFAM study, 90% of medical facilities lack the necessary supplies to give adequate care. A UNICEF report states that Iraq's water and sanitation systems are so heavily damaged that 70% of people do not have access to safe water. The World Health Organization reports that diarrhea and acute respiratory infections account for about two thirds of deaths among children under five. 21% of Iraqi children are chronically malnourished.

This is where No More Victims comes in. Through organizing in local chapters across the country, they are fundraising to send much needed medical supplies to Iraq. In doing so, they educate the wider community in the US about the daily misery of Iraq.

They also arrange to bring kids that has been seriously injured in this hideous war to the states for medical care that they couldn't get in Iraq. The local chapters work to find medical professionals and facilities to donate their services, and families to host the child and parent through their medical treatment. The child and parent then go home to Iraq, knowing that some people in the US want to bring healing to our worlds. A bridge of compassion is built, peace is taken out of theory and put into action.

The Portland chapter is called the Iraqi Child Project, and it is very new. Maxine says that they need people to get involved, and they need money. They want to raise enough funds to bring a child to Portland for treatment. That's going to take a whole lot of work, but what is peace worth?

You can get more information about the Iraqi Child at 503-234-3501 or emailing rofo@teleport.com

I believe that making these human connections is one of the most effective ways to wage peace. The corporate owned press sanitizes this war into a video game with no consequences. The words "collateral damage" are obscene. We must speak the truth about war, and take the steps that we can take to end this madness, and bring healing.

Nuclear Annihilation, Anyone?

2007-11-26T22:41:00.000-08:00

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' have a metaphorical device called the Doomsday Clock. This clock is set to show how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction, which happens when the clock strikes the figurative midnight. The catastrophic destruction could be brought about in any of a number of ways including nanotechnology and climate change-- however, the primary concern is nuclear weapons.

The year that I graduated from High School, the doomsday clock was at 4 minutes til Midnight, the year after it was 3 minutes 'til midnight-- the closest it has ever been set.

Living under the very real threat of nuclear annihilation as a 15 year old shaped my life in profound ways. It was in large part, why I have prioritized working for peace, as well as my philosophy that I life is to be enjoyed now, like there is no tomorrow--- because I have never really been so sure that there was going to be one.....

Recently on Positively Revolting Talk Radio, I had a chance to interview Norman Solomon. Norman has authored dozens of books, including his latest work, Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters With America's Warfare State, as well as many others. He is a nationally syndicated columnist on media and politics. His book War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death has been made into a documentary. Solomon is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. And popular rumor has it, some of his first experience with radio was here at KBOO, when Norman lived in Portland during the 1970's.

In Made Love, Got War, Solomon weaves together astute political analysis with wonderfully honest personal memoir, giving context to the political history. It is a book that challenges the reader to take an counting of her/ his own life, making sense of the political world through how it impacted your life, and to take action needed to bring about lasting peace and sustainability.

Our discussion began with a note that the U$ is an "exterminist state" as Daniel Ellsberg called it in his introduction of Solomon's latest book. This distinguishes the U$ from other warfare states, noting that the Dept. of Defense has strategies that include mass exterminations of people, nuclear weapons being used in urban areas (as they were in Japan and as they were targeted during the cold war).

Against the backdrop of the "exterminist state" there is the projection of stability. Solomon offered that it's the mainstream media's job to sell that sense of normalcy. Solomon quickly pointed out the rise in television programs like "Father Knows Best", as the world wrestled with the uncertainties of the new nuclear age.

The calm assurance of business as usual, as promoted in corporate media, contrasted with the reality that our current administration has continuously

kept nuclear military options on the table (and uses scores of tons of depleted uranium in weapons) makes for one hell of a disconnect.

Norman Solomon emphasized the importance of using independent media, and holding media accountable to report accurately.

In Made Love, Got War, Solomon cites author Jeff Nuttall, who wrote of the difference between the generation that were post adolescent when the U$ used the A-Bomb on Japan, vs those who were younger than that. According to Nuttall, people that were already through adolescence when the U$ nuked Japan plan for the future; the folks that were pre-adolescent during that moment (or, like myself, were yet to be born) were unable to realistically picture their future. Tomorrow was uncertain at best.

And now, the generation coming of age is once again doing so under a renewed threat of nuclear war, and certainly a spreading global war of aggression. While once the U$ presidents spoke of sure victory and U$ strength, we now have a who tells the public that we must be prepared for a war on terror that has no end, and that it is our patriotic duty to go shopping. The Doomsday Clock has crept back to 5 minutes to midnight.

For the sake of our future, for the sake of our earth, now is the time to get active; no time like the present to resist the death cult. The madmen in the ruling elite are willing to risk everything if it means that they get to continue to consolidate their power and wealth.

It is up to each and every one of us to demand accountability-- impeachment is a good start; after that the war crimes tribunals would be a great idea.

It's up to each of us to demand peace, and money for human needs.

Ya basta.

Remembering the 5th (and 6th) of November

2007-11-07T01:33:00.000-08:00

I want to start with some high praise for Dennis Kucinich. At last, a representative has introduced the idea into public debate that Cheney should be removed from office. The 11-page resolution said that Cheney violated his "constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of vice president." Further, it states that Cheney "purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the U.S. Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests."

According to the associated press, the resolution also charged that Cheney purposely deceived the nation about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida and has "openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran absent any real threat to the United States."

It's like someone broke the silence in a dysfunctional family. And much like a dysfunctional family, instead of looking at the actual content of the case against Cheney, the buzz is all about how democrats will be able to escape potential political fall out by side stepping any real action. After all, the reasoning goes, democrats will be embarrassed by being accused of being partisan, during a time of war. Huh???!!!??? As if the embarrassment here actually belongs to the silence breakers, and not to the treasonous Cheney who pardons some friends, while shooting other friends in the face (and then gets the aforementioned shot friend to apologize for the stress that he must have caused Lord Cheney, by intercepting shot pellets with his face!). This is the same Cheney who has lied repeatedly in service to the neo-cons and to sell the Iraq war. Who should feel shame here?

I am dumbfounded at the reticence of the democrats to impeach Cheney or Bush. For the love of Christ, these rogues have shredded the constitution, normalized the idea of the homeland and all of the hyper state security practices that would have been nearly unthinkable just 10 years ago, and skyrocketed the deficit while gutting the country's infrastructure (and feathering the nests of their cronies). Neither Cheney nor Bush enjoy popular support, indeed, they have some of the strongest disapproval ratings on record, and the democrats have a majority in the legislature. If this isn't the time to move forward with impeachment, when is? When will it be convenient to seek justice? When is it convenient to speak truth to power? Is it any wonder that I gave up on democrats many years ago? Could anyone tell me why they haven't, yet?

According to an article in the LA Times:
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and her lieutenants maneuvered to avoid a bruising floor fight. Such a clash would have forced Democrats to choose between their liberal base, which might cheer a Cheney impeachment, and a broader electorate, which might view the resolution as a partisan game in a time of war.

With the vote technically slated to last 15 minutes, she held voting open for more than an hour and finally forced the measure to an uncertain future in the committee.
That referral effectively shelved the issue for now, but not before the resolution's sponsor, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, a far-left Ohio Democrat running for president, had a chance to read into the record three articles of impeachment against the vice president."

Partisan game??? Pointing out that there is ample documentation to find that Cheney has been a big part of manipulating information (some call that lying) in order to justify a war with no end in sight, wherein we have lost nearly 4,000 US troops, and have killed well over 100,000 Iraqis? Partisan gaming, however, seems to be alive and well. Even as the democrats tried to dodge the resolution, several republicans voted to bring it to an immediate floor vote. The apparent reasoning was that this appearance of partisanship behavior would be so damaging to the democrats, that the republicans wanted to push it to the vote quickly. How could they think that's partisan gaming, and not an admirable call to accountability and justice meted out at even the highest level of government?

Again, according to the LA Times:
"If the judiciary committee were to vote on any of the impeachment articles, the issue would then go to the House floor. If the House were to vote to impeach Cheney, the Senate could try him and, with a two-thirds vote, remove him from office. 'This vote sends a message that the administration's conduct in office is no longer unchallenged,' Kucinich said afterward. Predicting that the judiciary committee will be forced by public opinion to hold hearings, he added, 'Hopefully, it will have a restraining effect on this administration to stop this madness.'

Four Democrats joined Kucinich to vote against sending the impeachment resolution to committee.

They included Reps. Bob Filner of Chula Vista and Maxine Waters of Los Angeles."

This is an important time for action. Call your congressional rep and tell them that this is the proper focus for the legislature, that shame is due those who dodged difficult issues in favor of easy politicking, that we need accountability in our administration. Billy Bragg said it well, "No Power Without Accountability" – what's so hard about that concept? It's a part of the bedrock of our governance, but now, if we are to believe Pelosi and her ilk, political expediency is more important to our country—after all, we are in a time of war; a war that Cheney's lies justified and sold. Nice full circle.

On another (?) topic, being raised with a rather heavy English influence, I have always been aware of Guy Fawkes Day. My mother taught me the poem when I was small:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

She would tell me of the celebrations, burning Fawkes in effigy at the bonfires ("Penny for the Guy?"), all to commemorate that his plan to blow up parliament failed.

I don't think that I would have appreciated Guy's personal politics, myself. He and other co-conspirators were undertaking this act as disenfranchised Catholics in a rather newly protestant England. Given the Catholic's view on witches, heretics and women, I doubt that we would have seen eye to eye. And yet, and yet…… in my heart of hearts, when my mother recited the rhymes and told her stories, my loyalties always lied with Fawkes.

Fast-forward about 380 years, or so—to a time of graphic novels in the late 1980's. Drawing from the draconian nature of Thatcher government, Alan Moore and David Lloyd created V for Vendetta, a dystopic tale of concentrated and corrupt power, where dissent is not tolerated and rule is maintained with an iron fist through the mechanism of keeping a populace totally afraid—even if it means the government has to manipulate facts and events to do so (sound familiar? See above). Given that V was written in the Thatcher era, it is uncanny how very transferable the situation is with current issues.

The protagonist of the graphic novel is a man named V—who embarks on a massive counter propaganda campaign to break through that paralyzing blanket of fear that keeps citizen's sheepish. His suggestion to create change? For all people who want to create change, to cast off the fear that binds them in inaction allowing fascism to rule, to come together on Guy Fawkes Night, in a show of force & solidarity while he blows up parliament.

If you haven't read V for Vendetta I suggest it, heavily! The Multnomah County Library carries it—really, it's good. There was a film adaptation released a couple of years ago, which is also good, though I generally prefer books, and the graphic novels have far more detail. That said, I celebrated Guy Fawkes Day with a viewing of the DVD, and fell in love with V (the story and character) all over again.

And finally, tonight is the seventh anniversary of my father's death. Joseph was one of the most caring men I have ever met. He loved me unconditionally, and was supportive of every endeavor I undertook, whether he understood me or not. He was a pretty simple guy, raised in the depression in Michigan. He loved country music, honky tonk, old timey and bluegrass. He was kind and he loved animals, feeding raccoons out of his hands nightly; he delighted when "his" raccoons would bring a new generation along to meet him--he gave them names and would talk about them with concern if he hadn't seen a regular for a while.

He died at the age of 81, from a fast acting form of cancer that he acquired from having worked with asbestos as a carpenter.

I miss him.

Joseph, presentè.
Joseph, presentè.
Joseph, presentè.

About Characteristics of Fascism and the US

2007-11-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

About the Characteristics of Fascism and the US

Right, I've said it before, and unfortunately, I find myself saying it again-- the US is plodding down the road to fascism. Alert the media.... oh, that's right, the corporate owned press is part of the problem. As Bruce Fraser and Elliot D. Cohen write about in their book, The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and a Power Hungry Government are Turning America into a Dictatorship, the interlocking personnel and interests between the mega communications corporations, global PR concerns and the neo-con cabinet of the Bush/Cheney administration is one way that the ruling elite are getting away with the consolidation of power through the never ending war of terror.

Laurence Britt, Naomi Wolf and others have laid out the major characteristics of a fascist nation. Please, check these articles out, it behooves us to not be ahistorical. Examine these characteristics, and think about the fascistic regimes of history.

And while examining that, consider this: last week congress pass a resolution, entitled the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. That resolution passed the house last Friday, October 26th, with 404 yes votes, and 6 no votes. In case you are interested, all 6 of oregon's reps voted for it. Thats right:
..>..>
Oregon
Aye OR-1 Wu, David [D]
Aye OR-2 Walden, Greg [R]
Aye OR-3 Blumenauer, Earl [D]
Aye OR-4 DeFazio, Peter [D]
Aye OR-5 Hooley, Darlene [D]

Oh, yes, all of Washington's reps voted for it, too.The resolution's troubling aspects really begin for me with the definitions of terms. I quote from the resolution:

`SEC. 899A. DEFINITIONS.

`For purposes of this subtitle:

`(1) COMMISSION- The term `Commission' means the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism established under section 899C.

`(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.

`(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term `homegrown terrorism' means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

`(4) IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE- The term `ideologically based violence' means the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual's political, religious, or social beliefs.

Please note that violence and force are not defined in this section. Further note that force and violence are separated in the definition (4).

I interviewed Alan Graf about this act. He is a lawyer who has been involved with the National Lawyers Guild for many years. When I asked him what the difference was between force, as used in this resolution, and non-violent direct action used by peace and justice seeking activists, he paused for a moment, then said, "well, none".

You can read the text of the legislation on the Thomas.gov site. Search for HR 1955, and then choose the version that was passed by house, received by senate-- it's number 4. Read it for yourselves, please.

How can we continue to "fight the good fight", and not be overwhelmed? What strategies can we develop to maintain opposition in these draconian times--- when folks who are being nominated for attorney general aren't sure if waterboarding is a form of torture....

Okay, again I have to remind us all not to let fear overwhelm us into inaction. ACTION is the anti-dote to despair. The bumpersticker speaks truth when it reads "your silence will not protect you." How can we be a part of the solution, be the change that we want to see in the world?

How do we create and practice solidarity like our lives depend upon it?

How do we continue to seek out and experience joy, in the midst of this madness?

As we go through the unknown, remember to love each other, and dance, and laugh; even as we keep our eyes open, and resist the death cult.

Blessed Samhain, Y'all!

2007-10-31T02:25:00.000-07:00

Ah, one of my favorite days of the year is here. As happens most years, I am trying to incorporate spiritual practice with a chance to party my ass off. Happily, given my spiritual path, these things are not mutually exclusive.

As a quick aside, being a witch at Halloween is a trip. Suddenly, pop culture shines a little spotlight on an otherwise near invisible spiritual path, and local corporate news outlets are likely to run sensationalized stories of [insert cheezy announcer voice here] "a real modern day witch--- more after this break." Chances are good, whatever ends up being portrayed in these bits feels like it has less than nothing to do with me and my spiritual path. It's either these velveeta moments, or, worse-- the ubiquitous unflattering Disney image of witches. You know the one: an old woman with a large crooked nose with wart; probable green skin; black or grey hair with a black pointy hat; and any teeth remaining are likely to be jagged. I mean, enough already. Witches, that is indigenous European earth path following folk, were relentlessly persecuted after the rise of Christianity. Over a 500-year period scores of thousands (at a minimum) of people (primarily women) were accused of witchcraft and executed by the church and state. Like that's not enough? We have to put up with crazy bad media stereotyping, too? I get a bit sick of it.... deny our existence, ridicule us, insult us, force conversions to worship a dead guy on a stick, and if anyone gets too out of line, tell the populace that they are in league with the devil and must be executed. More on the burning times, and their relevancy to current day events in a future post, but for now, I will get back to this blessed Samhain.

This is the time that the veil between the worlds is stretched thinner. This is the time to listen to messages from your ancestors. This is the time to ask those who are on the other side for advice, for guidance.

There are many ways to honor and remember the dead: pour an extra cup of tea / coffee / water in the morning, poor it out while saying the names of those you remember; set an extra place for "unseen friends" at the dinner table tonight; make an altar-- include pictures of those who are disincarnate, flowers, candles, reminders of the elements (water, earth, fire, air), let spirit guide you (literally).

So here's a little confession. I see dead people. Really. Since I was a kid, I have seen and communicated with the dearly departed. During this time of year, I can vouch for the connection coming through much stronger. One thing that I have learned is that anyone who wants to do this, generally can learn how. The most important thing is to be clear in your intention, ground yourself, state that you invite only spirits who wish you well, and be receptive to what you perceive. As with anything, practice helps.

I think that it is crucial to recognize the connections between this world and the next, to honor our connection with the dead and the earth that sustains us. It is important to see ourselves as a part of this very large intergenerational picture, and not this disconnected, disassociative ahistorical entity, with no past, no future and an unsatisfied present.

To that end, considering the challenges we are facing, please consider asking our forebears for advice. As the wheel of the year turns, remember: turning wheels make revolutions. I plan on having some consultation with Emma Goldman, Voltairine De Cleyre, Boudicea, Abbie Hoffman, Judy Bari, and my dad, gran, Uncle Jack, and Jan, too (can't forget about the family).

And in between all that consultation, libation pouring, honoring and connecting, I am going to the BOO BASH! It will be fun, I am working out my costume even now. I heartily encourage everyone to attend-- Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison Ave, $7 with a costume-- and proceeds benefit KBOO. Pretty much a winning situation all around. Check out all information about it here.

Whether you spend this day carving pumpkins (I have carved my best pumpkin *EVER* this year!), eating candy, talking with the dead, constructing the best costume in the world, partying like it's 1999 all over again, or some combination of the above, I wish you the very best as this old year passes. Brightest blessings on us all as we spend the next six weeks incubating the new year to come.

With love and gratitude.

What the Hell Happened September 8, 2005?

2007-10-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 22nd marks a day to focus attention on stopping Police Violence. KBOO is recognizing the day by creating special programming from 10 AM - 7 PM. You can listen at 90.7 FM Portland; 110.7 FM Corvallis; 91.9 FM The Gorge; and at kboo.fm Elsewhere.

Police brutality is a huge issue. Locally, I have to give much honor and respect to Portland Copwatch. For an overview of the problem of police violence in our own city, check out this information. For the briefest overview, just check out the list of victims that PCW compiled of police shootings and deaths in custody from 1992 until the present. In the interest of full disclosure, if you read the information on the beating death of James Chasse, Jr, know that we were friends, many years ago. This stuff hits home hard.

I have been asked to help produce an hour of the special, focusing on the murder of a young man named Fouad Kaady. Kaady was a young man living in Gresham, OR. On September 8th, 2005, Kaady was in a car accident, and his car caught on fire. There were several emergency calls from witnesses reporting the accident, a car being on fire, and of a man, walking down the street, badly burned and injured. Emergency response crews are dispatched-- Help on the Way!

First to arrive at the scene are Clackamas Dep. David Willard, and Sandy Police Officer William Bergin. Producers at Portland Indymedia have taken audio from their testimony to bring us the description of that night in the cop's own words, and folks, their words are horrifying.

Listen to the program on Monday, October 22nd, at 1 PM Pacific. Hear Willard and Bergin describe finding Kaady seated, cross-legged, looking down, not active in any way. Hear them talk about needing him to lie on the asphalt belly down so that they can restrain him (why? we're not sure why cops feel the need to restrain a critically injured accident victim... we'll try to answer this during the show). And know that 28 seconds after Dep. Willard and Officer Bergin first met Mr. Kaady, they shot him multiple times, and killed him.

What makes a cop treat an accident victim like a criminal? Listening to their testimony, I was reminded of the dialogue in so many b-grade horror flicks, where some small town cop is giving instructions on saving the townsfolk from monsters. Specifically the sheriff in Night of the Living Dead.

Without serious reform, giving someone a badge and a weapon is tantamount to giving them a licence to kill with impunity.

If you want more information stopping police violence, in Portland contact Portland Copwatch or the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center.
Get active! The life you save may be your own (or your friend's...)

Enough with the America's wars-- including the War on Drugs

2007-10-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 20th, Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse will hold a day long conference and banquet celebrating 25 years of education on marijuana policy and harm reduction. This seems like a good moment to look at America's other war front.

The "War on Drugs" has been waged for more than thirty years. And like the U$' other failed war efforts, this war has devastated lives, and left the coffers dry.

Over 2.2 million people are currently incarcerated in this country. Every year we choose to continue this war will cost U.S. taxpayers another 69 billion dollars.

One organization that sees the effects this miserable policy, and works to counter the gross misprioritization of resources, is Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. According to their website, the U$ has just over 4.5 % of the world's population, but 22.5 % of the world's prisoners. And yet, they note, prohibited drugs today are cheaper, and easier to get than they were thirty-five years ago, at the beginning of the so-called "war on drugs".

Howard Wooldridge is LEAP's Education Specialist, working in Washington, DC. He is visiting Portland to speak at the MAMA conference this weekend. He will be taking time to join us in the studio, Friday morning, 7:30 - 9 AM, for Positively Revolting Talk Radio.

As a young officer, Wooldridge quickly caught on to the fact that alcohol killed and injured more people than all the illicit drugs combined. His efforts to combat drunk drivers earned him recognition from MADD. He was bothered by priorities that didn't work to save lives, and saw that the drug war was not about reducing harm to society. In 2003 and 2005 Wooldridge rode his horse 6,400 miles from coast to coast to deliver an antiprohibition message in 22 states, to some 13,000,000 Americans.

The "War on Drugs" has been around for more than 30 years. The mantra that "drugs are bad, m'kay?" has become so much background noise. Against this hum, it seems anathema to talk unapologetically about being against prohibition, and yet that is exactly what this former police officer does.
I look forward to speaking with him-- I hope you have a chance to listen to the show.

It's time to end all of the wars this country, at home and abroad. It's time to embrace peace, value life and create beauty. Let's make it so.

Freaks: Living the Good Life

2007-10-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw Jason Webley play with his full band at the Kennedy School. Jason Webley is my favorite musician at this time; his live act, solo or with band, is not to be missed. Last night's performance was no exception.

The show started with each musician in the band playing a couple of solo pieces in support of their individual work. While each were good individually, it all came together nicely in an evening of experimental classical folk punk rock played on percussion, stand up bass, viola, guitar and accordion. What's not to love? The performance was incredibly enthusiastic, and I had a great time dancing and singing along, both with the friends who came with me and the other folks in the audience that I might not know so well yet. Such is the spirit of a Jason Webley show, as he mixes brilliantly executed music into an amazing antidote for alienation. Each time I have seen him, there is a great unifying energy that develops amongst those present. The man works audience participation into fine performance art like no other.

Leaving the club with my beloved, Theresa, we board the bus to get on home. I was happy and giggly in a way that a frantic stomp dancing sing-along can leave a person—we were having a good time. That's when this guy walks towards us on the bus and says to Theresa, "You call yourself a strange- ling, don't you? That's what you call yourself, a strange-ling." Theresa asks him what he is talking about, as the guy sits across from her and starts to get into his pack. Theresa gets very, very tense, and asks if he is getting a weapon. The guy sneers at her, I can't hear his words, and I am wondering how the fuck my evening just took this dive.

I am used to my evenings, afternoons and occasional mornings taking sudden twists—I realize that Theresa and I are (as one friend put it) "walking dharma" to some. We tend to have that "bright lights, big city" kind of effect on the uninitiated. It's unintentional, I assure you. It comes with the territory of living our lives openly, not being ashamed or apologetic of who we are. So, who are we? I am a bearded woman. Theresa is a transwoman. We got hitched a dozen years ago, and live fairly happy lives, raising a kid, and all. We work, we eat, we see live music and enjoy poetry. I really have a hard time understanding the attention that we attract, but, well, there you have it, that's my life.

Now, back to my life on the # 72 bus: I decide I am going to break the tension by being really flip to everyone involved. In Theresa's defense, she's been attacked for being trans before, based on her lived experience, it is not unreasonable to start getting edgy with this guy who is close by and getting into his pack after being quite hostile and mentioning god a few times. Still, in all, this is not the way I want the evening to go down. I want to get back to having fun, damn it! I tell the guy to fuck off, I loudly remind Theresa that I am her date for the night, and since I was a damn sight sexier than the dude that just came in, I suggest she start paying more attention to me and less to him. I look back at the dude, who seems confused at this point. He pulls his book from his pack and reads. I put my arm around Theresa and again, with volume, tell her that she is safe, that this guy isn't going to hurt her, and that we were having a good evening. I asked her to remember the fact that only a few minutes before we were in a room of folks where we were a part of things, welcomed and not reviled. Dude left a few stops later.

As things were getting back to a happy place, I couldn't help but over hear "Freaks!!!" spat out lowly, behind us. It was not the encouraging sort of tone that I tend to associate with the word, as in "God bless the Freaks, keep Portland weird". Nope, this was more the intonation wherein the opening "Motherfucking" was implied, along with the "you should crawl off and die now" unspoken closure. I turned around and the guy behind us (across from the back door which separated us) was in full glower. I wiggled my eyebrows, it was damn near involuntary. I am a freak, goddammit! What could I say? I didn't want to get too heavy, I didn't think he was a threat—but I really don't want to let some fuck pass this kind of judgment on me without my notice.

He said it again, as he was getting off the bus. Before he had a chance to be out of the door, I told him that I had to put up with his sorry straight ass, so he was going to have to put up with me. Off he went, into the night.

Eventually, our stop came up and we walked home. Theresa feeling saddened by the confrontations—I felt more defiant, a bit comedic. I know that in large part, that was because of my mood going into the confrontations (with good music, I am strong). Still, in all, it leaves me feeling raw, exposed. What is the problem out there in the straight world? Why do these people feel so free to express their disapproval, judgment, hatred and contempt for my family and me without even knowing us? I mean, if it were personal, I could better understand it. Just wondering, any ideas are welcome.

All that said, I have listened to the new Webley CD a few times today. I am also very happy with the "Led to Sea" CD, which is the project of Alex Guy, Webley’s violist, Jherek Bischoff his bassist and Saba Angel. Webley, et al, are returning to Portland quite soon, playing at Lewis & Clark on November 1st. I suggest making a good night of it, and bring money for the CDs (at $10 & 11 each, it's the least you can do to support the arts)—the songs get stuck in your head, and you'll need them later.

Oh, and uh, if you go-- can you hook me up with a ride? I think I like my freak bubble, and I want to reinforce it as much as possible, right about now.

Double Spiral

2007-10-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

Coming as no shock to any listener of of the talk radio show that I have co-produced for more than 13 years, Positively Revolting Talk Radio (yes, that is a double intendre), we are facing some very serious challenges in our country and communities. Over the last month we have focused on the draconian loss of civil liberties & a constitutionally based government, attacks on communities & hate crimes (hey, have you heard? nooses are making a comeback), and also looking at the connections between what is valued in the economy and how people and the planet are treated--- and these issues can get overwhelming, really fast.

It is very important not to allow yourself to be moved into inaction because a problem seems to big. I don't know if you have noticed what happens to people who try to do that in their personal lives (you know, that denial thing-- If i pretend the problem doesn't exist, it will just go away)--I have tried it a few times, and I can tell you it doesn't work. Now, when talking about national and international problems, with consequences of war, peace and democracy, and the horrors being perpetrated around the world in the name of U$ Americans, the moral obligation to act is too great to allow oneself to be overwhelmed.

One of the most important tools we need to take decisive action is good information. Having good information requires that we have a transparency in governance where the press are able to ask hard questions (and moreover to demand answers to those questions). Another important thing to remember is that action is the anti-dote to despair. The third thing to remember is that your sense of humor is essential to your survival.

Yes, ACTION is the anti-dote to despair. When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. How do we get the wheels spinning in a more just direction. How can we be a part of the solution, be the change that we want to see in the world?

This morning, I spoke with Elliot D. Cohen & Bruce Fraser, who have co-authored the book, The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and a Power Hungry Government are Turning America into a Dictatorship. The book succinctly follows the interconnectedness of big corporate media, defense contractors, global mega PR firms and our so-called government. It is a well argued wake up call to the fact that the current interlinking relationships between these groups provide an environment toxic to citizen participation in a free society.

This is hardly a new practice, and yet the degree to which the Bush administration has engaged in it to sell the Iraq invasion and occupation, to strip civil liberties, and to launch the war on terror seems like it has taken things to that next level.

Let's start off with the idea of transparency in governance. We have known for decades that the US Gov't will manipulate information and facts to achieve an accepting public opinion for a particular course of action. This has occurred through various administrations, in the U$ and abroad. Noam Chomsky talks about this process in his epic work, Manufacturing Consent.

This is hardly a new practice, and yet the degree to which the Bush administration has engaged in it to sell the Iraq invasion and occupation, to strip civil liberties, and to launch the war on terror seems like it has taken things to that next level. It seems that as the outrages get larger, I tend to feel number, cynical. That's not healthy, I recognize that. Action is the anti-dote to despair-- chant it like a mantra.

The Last Days of Democracy, starts out with a great look at the so-called Downing Street Memo-- this was an absolutely eye-popping leak to the press that proves the point that the U$ was looking for a justification to go to war with Iraq. Rather a smoking gun for those of us who "knew" that the administration was making up justifications to occupy Iraq out of whole cloth. But knowing that this administration lies is not the same as taking action against those lies-- doing positive things to enact a peaceful and just culture.

Moral obligation says act now-- lives are literally at stake. We must end the occupation of Iraq. We must re-prioritize spending, so that domestic human needs come out on top-- we need $$ for health care, housing, and a restored environment. And while we are at it, we should make art, too.

There are many wonderful things that are happening along these lines-- things that make it easy and enticing to act. One of these is a study group forming around the book The Real Wealth of Nations, by Riane Eisler--whom I was fortunate enough to interview recently for the talk show. The basic premise of this book is that it can be used as a text to explore a newish form of economics, while it can be used as an action guide to build our local economy to reflect humane and nurturing values. As crazy busy as I am, I want to participate in this. I want to help build opportunities for people to value each other, to work in partnership and with respect to one another and the earth that sustains us all. It is unsatisfying to only rail against, I need something to rail for.

Dr. Riane Eisler wrote the Chalice and the Blade, which was the book that introduced me to a lot of concepts about actual historical societies that were not based in violence and rigid hierarchies. Her new book takes those ideas and makes them into a very tangible economic system that can work for us all.

She is speaking at First Unitarian Church, at SW 12th & Main, on Friday, Oct. 26th, 7 -9 pm. There is a sliding scale entrance, with no one turned away for lack of funds. You can find out more about it (and download study guides or hook up with others involved in the local study group) by checking their website:

Allow me to end with these thoughts on fear and action, from one of my favorite books of all time, Das Energi, by Paul Williams:
Relax. That's how you deal with fear.
Listen.
Learn.
Fear is the greates enemy of awareness.
It leaves shame and guilt far behind.
Fear is the force that holds us back.
And we need not be held back any longer!
Listen!
There is a way to deal with fear.
First: accept that fear is not needed, that there is never
A reason to let it live. Carry this knowledge within you always;
It is your first line of defense.
Second: Learn to recognize your fears, in all their forms,
In the earliest stages possible.
Any fear killing mantra will do. Say:
I shall not fear, I need not fear. Write your own mantra.
Learn it. Use it. Killing fear is like stamping out a fire. Reflex.
Stamp it out.

Good night and good luck.

Hello, It's Me

2007-10-15T02:54:00.000-07:00

Not sure if anyone still has any active alerts about this blogsite, anymore. Still, I want to revive it. Still, I thought that I would forge ahead, and see what becomes of it. Ahem...

Surfing It:

I am reminded that sometimes I have no control over timing.

Earlier this week, I was talking with my beloved Theresa, and I was saying to her, "Ya know? I think that we should seriously think about using alternate forms of transportation. That we should save driving the van for special occasions, getting away and going to the store and taking care of mom and that, but I think that it's time to walk my talk more when it comes to regular commuting."

So of course it came as little surprise, when two days later, while driving around for a few errands in the rain, the van starts from stop light, and within seconds makes this k-chungka sound, when it goes no further.

Three of us push it two blocks and cab it home, defeated. I shook my tiny fists at heaven (literally, I did it -- seemed like as good a time to do so as any, and, well, I always wanted to know how that felt…), and screamed that this was certainly not what I had meant. I needed some more transitional time. Right.

The next day, the mechanic tells me that my transitional time has transitioned. The van, which has a really bad consumer rating, needs a wholly new transmission to the tune of about $3,200. A few other things that we should tend would bring it up another grand, if we wanted to keep it. The mechanic seems honest—he tells me that he wouldn't bother. Later in the day, Theresa read some consumer feedback about this particular beast, and found that we were lucky to have made it this far. It's the slow dismemberment and eventual scrap heap for Ruby, I'm afraid.

So today, while taking the bus to run some errands, I was serendipitously picked up by my friend Phil, who arrived at the corner the precise moment that the bus, too, arrived. He took me to his house and gave me a great CD (thank you, thank you, thank you!), and for added good fortune, I got to say hi to his girlfriend, too! They dropped me off at the station where I met folks for some conversational practice Spanish/English exchange.

The weather was beautiful, the serendipity good, the bus schedules even cooperated—who'd have figured? Still, if anyone is looking to sell a small car, relatively cheap, let me know—I well prefer the gradual approach to transitions.

FBI wants an informant in Portland City Hall???

2006-05-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

Wow-- check this out!

The Mayor of Portland, Tom Potter, has posted an open letter in his blog about an FBI agent asking a city hall worker "if she would be willing to pass information to him relating to people who work for the City of Portland."

Huh.

This shit's incredible. And when viewed as a part of the larger context, it is damned chilling. The following is from a press release on the incident that was posted to Portland Indymedia Center from the NW Constitutional Rights Center:

"The government's monitoring of Americans' phone calls, illegal wiretapping phones, and mining for personal data suggest a concerted effort reminiscent of Big Brother. According to national media reports, the FBI continues to infiltrate, monitor and spy on critics and opponents of the Bush Administration without any suspicion of wrongdoing. These actions appear to be politically motivated, are likely to chill political dissent and may infringe upon fundamental freedoms protected under the U.S. and Oregon Constitutions."

Let's face it. There is bad stuff afoot. Most folks still don't want to think that fascism is something that could happen here or now. Well, it is. We must work to educate each other to the fact that the question is not "Could fascism happen in the US?" but "How do we stop the fascist take over?"

According to Dr. Lawrence Britt, there are fourteen warning signs of fascism.
Some say that fascism is already here, some say we are on the slippery slope to it-- how many of the fourteen warning signs apply? Judge for yourselves:

1) Powerful and continuing nationalism.
2) Disdain for the recognition of human rights.
3) Identification of Enemies / Scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4) Supremacy of the military.
5) Rampant sexism.
6) Controlled mass media.
7) Obsession with national security.
8) Religion and government are intertwined.
9) Corporate power is protected.
10) Labor power is suppressed.
11) Disdain for intellectuals and the arts.
12) Obsession with crime and punishment.
13) Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14) Frauduant elections.

Hmmm... not looking too good for us, is it. Sure, there are matters of degrees with a couple of the points, but there too many verifiable examples in each of the categories too ignore. Playing ostrich will not make the police state go away. Neither will clicking our heels together three times take us to that new autonomous free state wherein we can just ignore these bummers and they won't bother us anymore.

This stuff is, in fact, really friggin' creepy.

It is so creepy that it is starting to get noticed. Even outside of the activist community people are thinking about surveillance, and federal informants in City Hall. Maybe this can be an opening, an invitation to get more information on how far down the rabbit hole we've come in so short a time, and what we can do about it.

This open letter by a Mayor of a fairly large city, exposing an attempt to place informants within a city hall must be connected with the rest of the Orwellian happenings at the federal levels.

We must work together (SOLIDARITY) to raise awareness of the un-constitutional, anti-democratic executive branch. We must work together to remind folks who are not activists why we have a constitution (and what our constitutional rights are!), and how we must safeguard those rights.

Near as I can figure it, lot's of people know something is very deeply wrong. Bush's approval rating is less than 30freakin'%. A whole lot of folks need the benefit of some seriously grounded discussion about political rights (the right to privacy as guaranteed in the 4th amendment-- or what's left of it, the right to dissent, the right to protest, the right to participate in free and fair elections)and human rights (the UN calls for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, "our" un-elected prez supports torture). The more folks become aware, the more they will become outraged. These travesties only happen when people of good hearts go to sleep (or, more likely, watch Fox television.

Please let's all keep the discussion and awakening process going. Jim Hightower has a great two-part article summarizing the fascistic trends afoot federally-- you can find them at:
Bush's Imperial Presidency
Inside Donnie Rumsfeld's Orwellian Pentagon
Make copies of these and other relevant articles, leave them around your break rooms, worker bathrooms, coffee shops, laundro-mats, waiting rooms, etc.

As Dante said, "The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."

Or, try these words of wisdom from Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men [sic] to do nothing."

Find inspiration where ever you can, but do SOMETHING TO MOVE US ALL INTO A BETTER, MORE JUST WORLD. It is not enough to sit by and smirk as folks who have their world explained to them on evening news. It is not hip, productive, chic, cool or excusable to be a cynic.

Motivate yourself and then motivate others.

We must create the change-- together.

Practice solidarity like our lives depend on it, cuz they do.

Don't Mourn, Organize!

2006-01-12T01:37:00.000-08:00

One of my heroes passed away this week.

Comandanta Ramona died, January 6th, after a very long illness. She was an incredible fighter and visionary for another way of doing things. She knew that the world of International Monetary Fund policy and World Trade Organization rules were not simply the natural order. She saw through the lie that there is no alternative to the neo-liberal globalization movement, and she spoke truth to power.

For 12 years now, the EZLN, more commonly known in the U$ as Zapatistas, have been a force to be reckoned with. Women make up about 1/3 of the ranks of the EZLN, and are somewhat more than half of its base of support. Comandanta Ramona’s words lay bare the reason for this when she explained, “Women have been the most exploited . . . We get up at three in the morning to prepare corn for our husband's breakfast and we don't rest until late at night. If there is not enough food we give it to our children and our husbands first. So the women now have decided to take up arms and become Zapatistas."

Comandanta Romona helped to author the Revolutionary Laws of the Zapatista Women, which demand (among other items):
· The married women have the right to use family planning methods-natural or artificial- whichever they decide. The man has to agree with her decision.
· The women have the right to participate in meetings and in the decision-making process, without criticism. The women have the right ...to hold office....
· The woman has the right to support from the husband when she is organizing, and when women go to meetings, men will watch and feed the children and tend the hearth.

Comandanta Romona has been an inspiration to me, as have the Zapatistas overall.

La lucha continua.

Looking for Peace on Earth

2005-12-31T23:57:00.000-08:00

I wrote this piece a little more than a week ago, yet never posted it. 'Though I no longer feel sad, I think that it's still relevant.

Today, I am sad.

Three days before Christmas and I don't see any peace on earth, nor much in the way of good will t'wards men, women or any other living being. One voice within me, that which speaks from and for my head, tells me that it doesn't matter one whit if it is Christmas or not; the daily atrocities of war and exploitation exist all through the year, and are equally abhorrent regardless of when they take place. Moreover, I am not a Christian, haven't been since I was thirteen, why should I fall for that sentimental Christmas rhetoric?

"Well," responds my heart, "for many years of your life, Christmas was that time of awe and wonder. A time when merriment and joy to the world seemed to be taken more seriously. One of the few times grown-ups seemed to actually be of some good cheer, overall. It was a time of great promise that you looked forward, each year offering the promise of some miracle. Now, you don't have that, and it hurts."

I know that both my head and my heart are right. That it is not their job to agree, but integrated and balanced they inform my whole self.

I notice that not so many people seem to be really enjoying themselves right now. There are too many unknowns lurking in our future. I think that the heart and mind dissonance of having a holiday that is strongly associated with peace and charity occur at this time, is occurring for others, as well as for myself.

I think that there are many other internal conflicts happening within our culture, and that most of us are in pain. The pain of knowing that the president thinks it's okay to spy on peace activists, and so many others; of knowing that we are in a war built on trumped-up allegations and selective information (and the occasional full on lie); that that same war has cost over 2, 000 US lives, and 10s of 1,000s of Iraqi lives; of knowing that we are neglecting and exploiting people in this country to serve the wealthiest—including demands of a blood sacrifice to feed the war machine with the bodies of the young men and women of the poor, working and middle classes; of knowing that we cannot trust that we have free and fair elections in this country anymore. And that pain is made sharper by the heart's voice, that hope many of us once held that this was a democratic country, whose law was based on the rights put forth in our beloved constitution—that for all of the US's possible shortcomings, at least we were a free and democratically controlled nation—and knowing the disillusionment of waking up and finding that those beliefs are a pack of lies… damned lies, and that those beliefs and a buck-forty will get you on the bus.

The solstice is passed. The light is returning. We must allow ourselves to acknowledge our hurts and disillusionments, we must grieve them, and we must dare to build a vision of another way of being—another way of inter-relating and co-creating a truly free and democratic society. And then we must empower ourselves, and each other, to act on it, and make it so. This is my solstice prayer.

We don't need to allow this any longer. We have had enough of bullshit intimidation, lies, distractions, disrespect and degradation. We have had enough.

My rights are not less important than your rights

2005-11-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

No, I can not wait until the rest of the mess is sorted out before I am “allowed” to assert rights over myself, my personhood, my life. And how dare you suggest that I should?

My rights, as a woman, as a queer, are NOT to be considered some sort of “fringe benefit”, the “cream” of living in a “free society”. My rights are fucking integral to that free society!

Every other Friday morning I co-host Positively Revolting Talk Radio on KBOO (kboo.fm or 90.7 FM, Portland). This morning’s discussion focused on the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court; it seems to me that the appointment of a far right conservative who has a track record that is anti-choice, into a pivotal seat on the court is a big hairy deal. The discussion was varied and lively, but throughout the discussion, I was becoming increasingly alarmed by an attitude displayed be almost every male caller—an attitude that warned Alito’s nomination is a smoke screen, there are (sensitive vegan souls, please pardon the phrase) more important fish to fry at this time.

Say what?

During Alito’s time on The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, in 1992, a case went before them called Pennsylvania v. Casey. This is a synopsis of that case from Wikipedia:

Four provisions of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982 were being challenged as unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade, which first recognized a constitutional right to have an abortion in the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The "informed consent" rule under the Act required doctors to provide women with information about the health risks and possible complications of having an abortion before one could be performed. The "spousal notification" rule required women to give prior notice to their husbands, and the "parental notification" rule required the same of minors to their parents. The fourth provision imposed a 24-hour waiting period before obtaining an abortion. When the case came before the Court on review, Pennsylvania defended the Act in part by urging the Court to overturn Roe as having been wrongly decided.
The district court held that all the provisions were unconstitutional and entered a permanent injunction against Pennsylvania's enforcement of them, and it was appealed to The Third District Court.

Next, (again, from Wikipedia):

The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part, upholding all of the regulations except for the husband notification requirement. Future Supreme Court nominee, Judge Samuel Alito, sat on that three-judge appellate panel and dissented from the court's invalidation of that requirement.

THAT’S RIGHT FOLKS, ALITO THOUGHT THAT SPOUSAL NOTIFICATION DOES NOT PRESENT AN UNDUE BURDEN.

Gee whiz, why is that so important to me? Because requiring a woman to receive permission from her spouse before receiving medical services is to treat women as chattel—no inherent, unalienable right to liberty, but only such “rights” as granted her by her master and ruler (oh, I am sorry, I meant caring helpmate). Because a man holding that view has just been nominated to the high court of the land, to a seat that could well cast the deciding vote on this and many other issues that will effect how our freedoms our meted out—which parts of the constitution we might honor, if it’s not to politically inconvenient.

No, this is not less important than the rest of the human rights we seek to gain and insure through our active vigilance. No, a woman’s right over her body is not something that we argue for after we make other, more acceptable gains. No, a woman’s reproductive freedom is not a fucking negotiating chip—it is a fundamental and unalienable right.

Abortion on demand and without apology.

Because women matter as much as men.

Solidarity now.

Enough

2005-10-31T00:20:00.000-08:00

The World Can’t Wait to drive out the Bush regime.

Across this country folks are gathering on November 2nd. In Portland, people will come together at noon in Pioneer Courthouse Square to demand an end to this madness and corruption.

Because we live in the belly of the beast, we owe it to the rest of the world to demand accountability of “our” government.

We owe it to ourselves and to each other to demand a better way to live. Demand an end to the gross human rights abuses at home and abroad. Demand an end to the environmental devastation. Demand an end to the police state that his arisen.

On Wednesday, November 2nd, come together and experience the birth of a movement.

We have had enough—ya basta!

The world can’t wait.

If you want more information, check out worldcantwait.org

Blessed Samhain

2005-10-31T00:09:00.000-08:00

Something’s in the air…

I went out last week to one of those places where you don’t even have to try hard to feel the magnificent power of the earth and connection to all that is. High time that I did, too—I have just come off of a month of working 6 –7 days a week, and 10 – 14 hour days, at that. Add to it the incredible madness going on within the administration, the horrific social injustice staring us all in the face and a war without end (or really any reality based justification). Add to that the fragile nature of family, loved one’s passing and others in terrible crisis.

And so I went to the coast, and walked the trails around Oswald State Park in a blistering rain storm—the kind where the rain comes at you sideways, pushed fiercely by the wind whipped off of the sea. My feet crunching on all of the fall goodness beneath them. My hands reaching out to touch the softest mosses. And I felt alive and good and whole. I felt connected and ready to continue my service to universe/ to love.

In this time of year, the wall between the unseen world and that place we all know as the consensus based reality in which we live, work and play, becomes quite thin. The old year passes away, the physical becomes a husk, drying in the breeze. Breaking down to its essential molecules, reseeding the earth.

Happy Samhain, all.

Remember that you are love and love is the strength of the universe.

To all my relations, seen and unseen—
To all my relations, on this side and the other—
To all my relations, I sing our connection—
Many blessings on this new year.

Let's Call It Genocide

2005-09-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

In the wake of Katrina, I am watching another American genocide.

What else can you call it?

Scientists have warned of impending disaster, yet the government only saw fit to cut vital funds that could have reinforced the levees; all monies go to fund military adventuring and corporate gain.

What else can you call it?

A mandatory order to evacuate comes without any support to do so. This isn’t such a problem for many folks—if they need to get out they can get in their cars / SUVs or get a ticket out on a plane and split. But what if you don’t have a car, or an SUV—let alone a plane ticket? What if even if you did have a car, where do you go when you have no money to actually stay anywhere once you get away? In this scenario, who’s left?

What else can you call it?

No massive coordinated relief effort from the government for days and days—no food, no water, no sanitation, no way out. I don’t know about you, but I get the feeling that the Federal and State Governments are thinking that these folks are expendable. There are more than 15,000 people left in New Orleans alone, without food or water for Christ’s sake—not to mention the thousands of people left in small towns and rural areas in Mississippi and Louisiana. And without potable water and food they will die. And the governor of Louisiana & president of the u.s., agree that there should be “zero tolerance” for looters. There are orders to shoot to kill folks "looting". What's the difference between looting and taking what is necessary to survive? So, just try and steal some water, soda, chips, anything you can get your hands on because your family has had nothing to eat or drink for 5 days and has been living on a rooftop, or bridge span in 90-degree heat and they are dying--those government forces dispatched aren't there to help you, they are there to shoot to kill, protecting the property of stores (who are insured, after all). It is the american way.

I am outraged.

I feel powerless to give real and tangible aid where it is needed most – 2,700 miles away.

I feel that the most I have been able to do is shake my tiny fists and emote— swell, that will help.

I am not a new critic of this political system, and the resulting administrations. And yet, in the past couple of days, I feel like all of the criticisms that I have spouted for many years about the government not being concerned with the welfare of the common people has been underscored, bolded and italicized in a most macabre way. I think that sometimes, I would rather be wrong.

The negligent disregard for human life that has been shown by those in power is nothing less than criminal—indeed, it is genocidal.

So I shake my tiny fists, I pace agitatedly around the building, I cry, I rant and I rage

And then I recommit myself to the struggle to challenge white privilege, to end classism, racism and sexism.

And I scream as loud as I can “NOT IN MY NAME!!!” It is not my will that my taxes are drained into the ever quickening quagmire of Iraq, leaving the u.s. strapped for relief and rescue resources. The u.s. spends over $5,500,000,000 (yes that’s $5.5 Billion) each month in Iraq—where it comes down as bombs and bullets, bringing death to folks that I have never met and hold no quarrel with. It is this same u.s. that allows (forces?) nearly 1/3 of the population of New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi to live in poverty, because a handout to Halliburton is good for the country’s economy, but a handout to desperately poor people somehow or another is thought to erode character.

Is any of this making sense?

What do you call this if you don’t call it negligent homicide of thousands?

What do you call this if you don’t call it genocide?

Bang Head Here!

2005-09-02T00:26:00.000-07:00

My little corner of the world looks out on to a thriving community radio station—it’s my day job, it’s a way of life.

One of the coolest things about this little community radio station is that it is volunteer powered. 450 volunteers create the programming and run the business, coordinated by 10 paid staff.

I am one of the few paid staff; I talk with scores of volunteers, members and listeners every day. By and large, this is the best thing in the whole world—who doesn’t love to talk with brilliant and passionate people about current events, music and art? And then there are weeks like this… weeks when some folks seem a bit less brilliant.

Take this evening, for example. I was talking with a friend at a gathering of volunteers at a pub—nice Euro-American woman, very progressive, good organizer, volunteer and active member of this station. She was complaining that a program that she valued aired in the middle of the day, a time that she is usually not able to listen to the radio. She suggested that it move to an evening spot so that she and “working people” would be able to listen it. I ran through my standard explanation of how it was scheduled (at a time that very little locally produced programming had to be displaced), and added that I had received several calls from working people who loved being able to listen to it while they were at work. She replied that she isn’t able to listen to it at work and went on to ask: “Why not put it on at 7 PM?”

7 PM weeknights just so happens to be the time that the station airs programs collectively known as “The Soul Strip”, a concentration of diverse music programs created by and for African Americans. The shows range from R & B, soul, jazz, hip-hop, rap and the occasional gospel song or two. They also, often, include community news, information and commentary.

I quickly said “I don’t think that that is such a good place for it either, it would displace “The Soul Strip”. I guess that I was hoping that hearing this, she would remember what was airing at 7 PM, know how important that strip of programs is, and pursue another course. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. What did happen was my friend told me “Well, yeah, I just turn the radio off then anyways.” She went on to tell me that people would listen to the new program during the evening. I pointed out that in fact, people are listening to the Soul Strip shows, and that people are listening to the new program on in the middle of the day. My friend re-iterated that she always turns the radio off at 7 PM, another volunteer (also Euro-American) overheard this and agreed—he always turns it off at 7 too.

Questioning white privilege is the responsibility of every Euro-American. That I was hearing from two bright, progressive Euro-Americans who are also friends made me want to first, slap my own head, and second, bang their heads together—I wanted to say, “Gee, mighty whitey of ya.” I wanted to say, “Excuse me, but have you heard what came out of your mouth?” I wanted to say, “Can you explain to me why you should judge what is culturally relevant programming for a community to which you don’t belong?” I wanted to say these things and more… but I didn’t.

Instead, I settled for something more like “You need to realize that when you turn your radio off, others turn it on”.

My Euro friends looked a little confused, and I took my opportunity to escape to another corner of the pub and tipped my pint up.

The War Comes to Utah:

2005-08-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

Or, how I learned to quit worrying, and love the police state.

Ok, this is a multi-part, directive and participatory blog posting.

First read the article posted here:

http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2005/edit_2005-08-25.cfm

and here:

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/82205utrave.cfm

Full military combat regalia, eh? Well, why not? Perhaps the swat team was experiencing some battle envy, but since going to Iraq is, well, you know, kinda inconvenient, they could just get their war on by terrifying / bashing kids at a concert. Rave / Schmave, these are kids at concerts for christ's sake-- kids that the 90 faux soldiers were, purportedly, protecting and serving by stomping them to the ground and repeatedly kicking them in the ribs. I wonder how many kids would have been injured without the raid, and how many were injured in the raid.... I could do without that sort of protection, thanks anyways. What is up with all that cammo? What message were they (very purposefully) projecting? Is anyone else sick of "our" country declaring wars at home?

I am afraid that this is yet more evidence that we are no longer on a slippery slope to a police state--- we are within a police state, one which uses a somewhat friendlier facism than we have read about in history books or in Orwell, and yet certainly we are no longer in a state where there is pretense of tolerance for those who are "outside the mainstream".

And why target Raves anyways? Could it be because there is a definite theme of unity, bliss, ecstatic dance and sensuality? All of those things hurl rocks at the mirrored walls of a police state. Could that also be behind the war on cannabis?

I want peace, I want justice, I want love to prevail.

In the words of Umar Bin Hassan:
"Peace to those who come to understand that love is all you are and ever will be."

May we all understand this, and understand it soon.

Not In My Name. No More Torture.

2005-08-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

How upside-down / inside-out can the news possibly be spun?

The story stuck in my craw today revolves around the refusal to disclose 87 additional photos & videos of "detainee abuse" under US occupation at Abu Ghraib. The following is an excerpt from an item posted on Common Dreams from the Inter Press Service:

"In response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and a number of medical and veterans groups demanding release of 87 new videos and photographs depicting detainee abuse at the now infamous prison, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, said the release would result in 'riots, violence and attacks by insurgents.' "

Well, good thing that Myers is looking to de-escalate tensions, no? More from the story:

"He [Myers] believes the release of the photos would 'incite public opinion in the Muslim world and put the lives of American soldiers and officials at risk.' "

OK, correct me if I am wrong here, but the thing that is putting lives of American soldiers and officials at risk is the occupation that the US government has been engaged in since we (with manufactured provocation) trumped up a so-called "coalition of the willing" to invade and attack a sovereign nation because the US government declares it is in our national interest to lay claim to their resources as if they were our own.

” 'The situation on the ground in Iraq is dynamic and dangerous,' Myers added, with 70 insurgent attacks daily.

Dynamic and dangerous, eh? It is a war for chrissake's--of course it is dangerous!

” 'It is probable that Al Qaeda and other groups will seize upon these images and videos as grist for their propaganda mill, which will result in, besides violent attacks, increased terrorist recruitment, continued financial support and exacerbation of tensions between Iraqi and Afghani populaces and U.S. and coalition forces,'[Myer's] said."

Hey, news flash-- you know what can also cause increased violent attacks, terrorist recruitment and an exacerbation of tensions between Iraqi & Afghani populaces and the US & coalition forces? How about the freekin' torture that seems to be pretty much a way of doing business at detention centers?!? Torture that Alberto Gonzalez can justify with the stroke of a pen-- safe, clean and very removed from the brutal and inhuman acts his work supports. He doesn't have to hear the screams. He doesn't have to see the eyes filled with torment, fear and pain.

How dare Myers frame the issue as the ACLU and concerned human rights groups are encouraging terrorism for wanting to expose what some US military and civilian contractors are doing in violation of international conventions-- or that the release of the photos (and not the actions that they depict) will bring violence and ill-will toward US and "coalition" forces.

This is, to me, the crux of the biscuit-- How disingenuous can a guy be? Seems to me that resistance fighters were, well, fighting the US occupying forces well before the first photos of torture were publicly released last year. I mean, if I was worried that seeing pictures of torture might put our troops at risk, shouldn't I be at least as concerned that the act itself might just piss an occupied people off?

Seems to me that if you were truly wanting to end violence against our troops, you would make damn sure that
1) all international conventions were followed carefully in regards to POW treatment, not targeting civilians and the like;
2) all efforts were put into finding a workable and quick exit strategy to take the troops out of harms way;
3) and, oh yeah, you wouldn't constantly expose those same troops to depleted uranium.

Of course, Myers is not in the least bit concerned over the welfare of the troops. He is concerned that the public just might catch on to the fact that the torture of prisoners is not being done by a few bad apples; that 87 additional visual images of torture done by US forces may reveal a distinct and widespread pattern of institutionalized practice.

As Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights points out:

"'The administration's response to the release of the photos is to kill the messenger, rather then to investigate and prosecute the real culprits: Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld, Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales, Generals Miller and Sanchez, and others.'

He agreed that 'the photos will be upsetting to anyone who cares about humane treatment and particularly to those in the Muslim world, but the photos reflect the reality of the type of treatment detainees were subjected to.'

'Rather than suppress the best evidence of widespread torture of Muslim detainees, the Administration ought to launch a fully independent investigation and ought to see that an independent prosecutor is appointed,' Ratner told IPS.

He added, 'Ensuring accountability for the torture conspiracy is the best way of demonstrating to the Muslim world that this outrage has come to an end and will not be repeated.' "

I couldn't agree more.

Let the truth be known so that we can call for accountability.

"Don't hate the media-- be the media!"

2005-08-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

I embrace this approach to life. Indeed, I have been involved in DIY media for most of my life-- primarily at the (often) brilliant community radio station known as KBOO.

I guess that I want to try to put ideas out there in just about any medium that I can-- hence, I will try my hand at blogging. Goddess knows I have read a few.

So on this, my maiden blog post, I wanted to share my thoughts on solidarity, perhaps the most important concept to embrace at this time.

We certainly are in perilous times. Indeed, that Niemoller quote* doesn't feel very distant.

We should encourage and foster solidarity at every opportunity, because our lives really do depend on it.

Did anyone else notice that a 4-star general was fired for "sexual misconduct" of an undisclosed nature? Say what? Since when does that happen (okay, last time was 10 years ago)?

There's a whole lot of bad will between civilian and military pentagon personnel.

There's a whole lot of bad will between the current administration and the CIA (it's not nice to out your operatives).

There are some interesting high-level tensions happening in that game they play in D.C.. To bad how they play effects each and everyone of us. As for me, I want nothing to do with them. I want to see us outgrow the US government. They have a history of torture, rape, genocide and other nastiness that just doesn't stop.

Oh, and Bush's poll showings are slipping. While on the one hand this makes me ecstatic, on the other, it worries me--because this administration will stop at nothing to distract people from the evil fucking things they do. Anyone see yet another Reichstag smoldering?

We don't need them.
We need each other.

It's time to practice solidarity like our lives depend on it.

*"First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist -- so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat -- so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist -- so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew -- so I didn't speak up.
Then when they came for me, there was no one left to speak up for me."

-- Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

(There are many versions of this quote, seems to be some arguement over the order in which the lines came... funny how much folks like to argue... still, in every version I have seen, the meaning is clear-- Why wait? Practice solidarity now!)