Hope

Hope

--"Run away!" her husband screamed from a rooftop after he spotted the colossal waves. It was a simple command that smothered Sangeeta in a nightmarish dilemma: She had three sons, but just two arms. She grabbed the two youngest and ran — reasoning that 7-year-old Dinakaran, the oldest, had the best chance of outrunning the giant waves. When the boy didn't follow, Sangeeta was crushed by grief, believing she would never see him again. The family dog made sure she did. Dinakaran had not followed her but ran instead to the safest place he knew — the family's small, concrete-walled hut just 40 yards from shore. While water lapped at Sangeeta's heels as she rushed up the hill, the scruffy yellow dog named Selvakumar ducked into the hut after the boy. Nipping and nudging, he did everything in his canine power to get the boy up the hill.

"That dog grabbed me by the collar of my shirt," the boy said from under some trees at Pondicherry University, where the family waits for relief aid. "He dragged me out." Sangeeta said she wept with joy when she saw her son walking up to her, with Selvakumar by his side. The Tamils of south India believe that talking about the death of a living person can make it so, so Sangeeta didn't want to speak of her decision or speculate how she would have felt had her son not survived. She did say that she believes some special spirit, perhaps her brother-in-law's, resides in the young yellow dog. "That dog is my God," said Sangeeta — with Dinakaran sitting on the ground at her feet. Selvakumar slept on the warm asphalt next to him.


Source- World/AP Yahoo



--Knowledge of the ocean and its currents passed down from generation to generation of a group of Thai fishermen known as the Morgan sea gypsies saved an entire village from the Asian tsunami, a newspaper said Saturday.


Source: Yahoo News


--On India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, a woman who fled the killer waves gave birth in the forest that became her sanctuary. She named her son Tsunami.





--In the historic port town of Galle, Sri Lanka, several Buddhist statues of cement and plaster were found unscathed amid collapsed brick walls in the centre of the devastated city. To many residents, it was a divine sign.


--The Indonesian Red Cross reportedly dug out a survivor buried since the tsunami struck in the ruins of a house in Banda Aceh. The rescuers heard Ichsan Azmil's cries for help. After being pulled out, he asked for water and was taken to a hospital for treatment of cuts and bruises.

source: Globe and Mail

Misery Upon Misery

Misery Upon Misery


Photo credit - Digital Globe/AFP/Getty Images

This combination of handouts of satellite images shows the before image, top, taken June 23 and the image taken on Wednesday after the tsunami hit Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

At one refugee camp on the grounds of the airport of Banda Aceh, hundreds of people spent a wet night under plastic sheets. Mothers nursed babies while others tried to light a fire with damp matches.

"With no help, we will die," one refugee, Indra Syaputra, said. "We came here because we heard that we could get food, but it was nonsense. All I got was some packets of noodles."

The rain pummelling the corpse-littered provincial capital was creating conditions ripe for cholera and other water-borne diseases to spread. Boxes of aid at Banda Aceh's airport soaked up water, making it difficult for workers loading cartons of drinking water, crackers and noodles onto delivery vehicles.

Rain drenches tsunami victims amid strong aftershocks

After the devastation wreaked by water from the seas, a deluge from the skies deepened the misery for tsunami-stricken survivors shivering in relief centres Saturday and triggered flash floods in Sri Lanka that sent residents fleeing once again.

Update: Confirmed Deaths

Confirmed Death Toll (BBC):

1. Indonesia: 80,246
2. Sri Lanka: 28,627
3. India (inc Andaman and Nicobar Is): 8,955
4. Thailand: 4,812
5. Somalia: 142
6. Burma: 53
7. Maldives: 73
8. Malaysia: 66
9. Tanzania: 10
10. Seychelles: 1
11. Bangladesh: 2
12. Kenya: 1

US Election: Fertik's Open Letter to Sen. John Kerry

The U.S. Election -
Fertik's Open Letter to Sen. John Kerry

Democrat.com's Bob Fertik has written an open letter to Senator John Kerry on leading a challenge to Ohio's electors on January 6th.

Mr. Fertik is not satisfied with a Kerry-Edwards campaign attorney Daniel J. Hoffheimer's follow-up (e-mail) statement to MSNBC after a recent appearance on one of their news shows:

"The Bush-Cheney ticket has won. The Kerry-Edwards campaign has found no conspiracy and no fraud in Ohio, though there have been many irregularities that cry out to be fixed for future elections. Senator Kerry and we in Ohio intend to fix them. When all of the problems in Ohio are added together, however bad they are, they do not add up to a victory for Kerry-Edwards. Senator Kerry's fully-informed and extremely careful assessment the day after the election and before he conceded remains accurate today, notwithstanding all the details we have since learned."

On December 27th, an attorney representing the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign filed two important motions, along with other concerned plaintiffs on the Ohio recount cases, to preserve and augment evidence of alleged election fraud in the November election. Attorney John Bonifaz serves as general counsel for one of the plaintiffs, the National Voting Rights Institute. He has invited the Bush Cheney campaign to join the motion to preserve all of the ballots and election machinery in the presidential election in Ohio and to investigate the potential tampering of voting machines by Triad Governmental Systems, Inc, prior to the start of the recount.

Further Down The Path: War Becomes Unthinkable

Further Down The Path: War Becomes Unthinkable

Why should it have to take the most deadly tsunami in history to lead us to understand how war will soon no longer be a viable option for mankind?

"It is very odd that nations cooperate to help each other in the face of natural disasters. But when they become angry over some minor dispute, they are perfectly happy to inflict far more damage on each other than mother nature ever did. Pakistan and India were seriously contemplating using nukes on each other as recently as 2002. Now Islamabad is sending rupees to Delhi, and Delhi is expressing gratitude.

Now that nukes are becoming so common, humanity has to find a way to move into permanent cooperative and helping mode. War is gradually becoming unthinkable. The massive tsunami's toll has now risen to 150,000, but an Indo-Pak nuclear exchange would have killed 10 million."

---Juan Cole

William Blake: "On Another's Sorrow"

William Blake: "On Another's Sorrow"

Can I see another's woe,
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another's grief,
And not seek for kind relief?
Can I see a falling tear,
And not feel my sorrow's share?
Can a father see his child
Weep, nor be with sorrow filled?

Can a mother sit and hear
An infant groan, an infant fear?
No, no! never can it be!
Never, never can it be!



And can He who smiles on all
Hear the wren with sorrows small,
Hear the small bird's grief and care,
Hear the woes that infants bear --

And not sit beside the next,
Pouring pity in their breast,
And not sit the cradle near,
Weeping tear on infant's tear?

And not sit both night and day,
Wiping all our tears away?
Oh no! never can it be!
Never, never can it be!

He doth give his joy to all:
He becomes an infant small,
He becomes a man of woe,
He doth feel the sorrow too.

Think not thou canst sigh a sigh,
And thy Maker is not by:
Think not thou canst weep a tear,
And thy Maker is not near.



Oh He gives to us his joy,
That our grief He may destroy:
Till our grief is fled an gone
He doth sit by us and moan."

The Sea Gods must be angry..so some fables say

The Sea Gods must be angry..so some fables say

Noah's Ark : One of the best recognised stories from the Old Testament.

Matsya Avtaar : According to legend, the Vedas , which helped Bramha with creation, were eaten up by the demon Hayagriva.

Samudra Manthan : Enraged with Indra for rejecting his gift, Sage Durwasa cursed Gods, saying they would lose their powers. Lord Vishnu then advised them to persuade the demons to perform 'samudra manthan' i.e., churn the sea to bring out 'amrit' (elixir of life), which alone could restore their powers. Therefore, the 'samudra manthan' was carried out.

Sethu bandhan : As he led his army to Lanka, Rama reached the shores of the Indian Ocean. Rama then prayed to the ocean to provide him a passage. But after three nights, the ocean still refused to oblige. Enraged, Rama decided to dry up the ocean, and unleashed the Indra astra (arrow resembling a powerful thunderbolt of Indra).

Moses & the Red Sea : As a baby, Moses was put in a basket and floated down the Nile because the Pharoah had ordered that all Jewish male children be drowned. He was pulled out by an Egyptian princess and named Moses because he was drawn (mashah) out of the water.

Poseidon adventures : Poseidon, the Greek God of the Sea, is one of six siblings who “divided the power of the world". Poseidon not only ruled the sea, he was also the god of earthquakes. Poseidon was relied upon by sailors for safe voyages. However, he was a moody God, and his temperament could sometimes result in violence.

The Legend of Atlantis : The island-nation of Atlantis is said to have existed over 11,000 years, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Apart from being abundant in natural resources, it was also a major centre of trade and commerce. It's people were described as well-educated, using advanced technology and fabulously wealthy. It is asid to have disappeared into the sea, due to an earthquake caused by gigantic submarine volcanic explosions, triggering off a massive flood.

Source: Times of India

"I saw waves take away my parents."

"I saw waves take away my parents."

One child's story of how he lost his family:

"For a long time, my parents had been planning a visit to Velankanni. They had taken a vow to shave my head at the shrine, a promise they managed to keep this year," Pratheesh says, weeping all the while. He escaped the tsunami but lost his family to it.

"After the tonsuring, we all went down to take a dip in the sea. I don't remember the exact time but I think it was around 9.30 am. As we were bathing, we saw a huge wave coming towards us. It seemed like fun at first; we understood the danger only when it came near," relates Pratheesh. The family fled for to higher ground, but the waves were too strong and fast for for them. The first wave swept over them. Before they could recover, it was receding.

"All of us were clinging to each other. But we got separated and I could see waves taking away my parents.

"Then came another wave, which again pushed me back to the shore. I lost my consciousness. I don't know how many hours passed. But when I opened my eyes, I was lying in a pool littered with dead bodies," says Pratheesh, whose battered body hurts all the time."

Poem for Mothers / Tsunami Charity for Women

Poem for Mothers / Tsunami Charity for Women


AP photo

When she awoke he was not there
She recalls a man with a mask shaking her
To a consciousness she'd wished she'd not regained

For all the pain that followed when memory fell
back in, like the flood that swept him away
from her desperate arms, his cries drowned by the sea

If she'd only been carried along with him
She would not be left here, cursed with knowing
she'll leave without his body, miraculously saved, alone.


--Jude Nagurney Camwell

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



There are many agencies ready and waiting to take donations for tsunami relief. I have posted a list of these agencies, with links, at my personal website. Sri Lanka and Indonesia are likely to have the greatest need for humanitarian support. In Sri Lanka alone, over one million people have been displaced. Among them are tens of thousands of pregnant and nursing women, who are especially susceptible to waterborne diseases and require emergency medical attention and trauma counseling.

I want to make readers aware of one of those agencies, which is called MADRE.
MADRE is an international women’s human rights organization that works in partnership with women’s community-based groups in conflict areas worldwide. MADRE specializes in assisting displaced women and families, offering them crucial trauma counseling which will help them cope with the deaths of their children and other loved ones, gradually heal from their trauma, and begin to rebuild.

MADRE has chosen to partner with INFORM. They are part of a regional network of women’s groups that can reach out immediately to many different communities at at time such as this.

MADRE can be found on several websites (including Charity Navigator and GuideStar) that rate the business practices and overall effectiveness of charities.

Donation information can be found HERE.

Mosul: Independent Electoral Commission Walks Away

Mosul: Independent Electoral Commission Walks Away

Al Jazeerah is reporting that the entire staff of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission in the northern city of Mosul, amounting to about 700 employees, have resigned amid growing violence in the country.

Also, Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr's political office announced it was taking legal action against the interim Iraqi government for alleged torture and murder of its members.

Sorrow Beyond Words

A father found the body of his eight-year-old son today on the beach in Cuddalore, India.
Photo credit: NY Times/Arko Datta/Reuters

Sorrow beyond words

One year ago...

Tsunami Blogs You Can Rely On

Tsunami Blogs You Can Rely On

At The American Street, Kevin Hayden has compiled some comprehensive information about the latest in blog technology and how, side-by-side with mainstream journalism, the blogosphere is positively effecting the efficiency and speed of relief for the tsunami victims through on-line activism.

Tsunami Blogs you can rely on, Pt. 1
Tsunami Blogs you can rely on, Pt. 2

Kevin Sites is Blogging Again

Kevin Sites is Blogging Again

This time he's in Thailand. His latest blog is a must-read.

Tsunami: "Mysterious Forces"

Praying for a lost loved one in Thailand
AP photo

Tsunami: "Mysterious Forces"

"There are mysterious forces out there that are not fully understood by our oh-so-rational selves. I am reminded of the strange signs and omens that historians recorded before calamities: for instance the rain of frogs in Vietnam preceding the cataclysmic war. Or the odd celestial signs that preceded the death of Julius Caesar.

It is said that the very elements can be affected by the mystical powers of sages who have acquired superhuman powers through meditation and sadhana. I think we should all tread carefully, for now we are treading on things we do not know."

--Rajeev Srinivasan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There is no drop of water in the sea—not even in the deepest part of the abyss—that does not respond to the mysterious forces that create the tides. No other forces that affect the sea are so strong."

--From The Sea III—Wind, Sun, and Moon by Rachel L. Carson, where she considers the science of waves, and the relationship between the earth and the sea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"One can almost hear the Hindu gods in one editorial from the Times of India. "Such stupendous forces beyond conception can inspire only awe," the paper wrote. "And ultimate humility in the face of a mysterious creation which, to make itself complete, must inevitably contain the seeds of its own eventual dissolution."

...."If you have seen the swirling, swelling and churning waters of the ponds on that fateful day you would have understood that it was nothing but the workings of the supernatural forces. We rushed to the local soothsayer and he said it was all because of our sins of this age of indiscipline and hedonism."


..."If today I talk about God's fury, I would be ridiculed," the priest says. "But in our Hindu religion there is 'karmaphal,' the result of our actions, good or bad. There is a constant human effort to tame nature in the sky, land and water. We are cutting trees, we are destroying the mangroves.... Our actions unleash an imbalance in the ecology and then such things perhaps happen.

--from: Eco-Disaster, or God's Wrath? Indians React to Tsunami by Sujoy Dhar and Sandip Roy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


In the news:


'Earthquakes don't kill; human error does'

"the death toll in Chennai and towns is high because without regard to elementary rules, people have been settling down on the beach and this has been encouraged by the politicians."

'Earthquakes do not give prior warning'

"The Indian Meteorological Department today cautioned that after-shocks of the massive earthquake that struck Indonesia and Andaman and Nicobar islands would continue in the coming days."

Tsunami Updated Information, Collected Stories, Death Toll

BBC News image

Tsunami Updated Information, Collected Stories, Death Toll

"The BBC's Rachel Harvey, in Banda Aceh, reported seeing ten truck-loads of bodies delivered to one mass grave in just 20 minutes..."

News Trove (Indonesia)

New York Times: The year the earth fought back by Simon Winchester

India Daily- Tsunami effect: Days get shorter


I learned about an excellent piece of journalism by the WP's Michael Dobbs from Roger Mellen via Anonymoses.
Thanks to both. This is a first-hand accounting of a nightmare-turned all too real.




BBC News photo

BBC- Survivors tells of tsunami train horror "The Queen of the Sea was nearing its destination when the waves knocked it sideways.."



NOAA REACTS QUICKLY TO INDONESIAN TSUNAMI



BBC-Swallowed Up by the Savage Sea by Soutik Biswas-

"Within five minutes, Khan and his team work through the debris to bring out Pakirammal, cover her face with a red jumper, daub her with DDT and cart her off to the hospital.

"You have left me, you have left me," howls a disconsolate Shanmugham. His son weeps for the first time during the day.

Then, father and son follow their decomposed mother on her last journey.

There is even less dignity in death for the poor than in life.

After tagging her in hospital, a track will dump her inside a big hole in the ground on top of other bodies and the earth poured in hastily.

About NOAA and Tsunamis



An excellent website: INDONESIAN TSUNAMI AIDS

Some facts from CNN:


CNN photo

- Death count from tsunamis at 80,427, more than half of those in Indonesia
- One in four in some parts of Indonesia’s Aceh province killed, according to United Nations
- About $220 million in cash donations received or pledged so far for the relief effort, U.N. says
- Two tourists killed for every one Thai, according to Thai government
- As many as one-third of the dead may be children, aid workers say
- Aid workers say clean water the priority, and warn of threat of typhoid, malaria, cholera

LINK
via sketches of the mind

Devastating Quake Redraws Map

Rare Tribes May Have Been Lost Forever in Tsunami


Tsunamis and Nuclear Power Plants
by Russell D. Hoffman
t r u t h o u t



CONFIRMED death toll

Sri Lanka: 22,493
Indonesia: 45,268
India: 3,500
Thailand: 1500
Maldives: 67
Malaysia: 65
Burma: 90
Bangladesh: 2
Kenya: 1
Tanzania: 10
Seychelles: 3
Somalia: 100

Source BBC
and The SEA-EAT blog.

Emergency Action Blog Update

Emergency Action Blog (EAB) Update

LATEST NEWS

We think Jon Lebkowsky summed up the goal of EAB best as "a go-to resource for blogger coordination when disasters/catastrophic situations occur." In addition, his post at Global Voices provides a good background for those who might have just stumbled upon this site.

After the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, bloggers from India quickly set up The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog for news and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts. This blog’s an invaluable coordination effort, and it pointed to the need for a more robust and permanent site for ongoing coordination of bloggers and other online resources in response to other catastrophic situations that might occur in the future. Nick Lewis of the Progressive Blog Alliance is working on such an “Emergency Action Blog” site. We’ve set up an email list (eab at activist-tech.org) for a collaborative effort to define requirements and taxonomy and produce the site using something like CivicSpace. To subscribe, send a blank email to eab-subscribe at activist-tech.org. This will hopefully be an international collaboration of bloggers and techs, therefore a good early project for those who support the Global Voices intiative.

Site creator and founder Nick Lewis states:

"...if the internet in fact has the potential to build a new world, what is the next step in fufilling that potential? My answer: we need to start building more bridges, taking a more experiemental approach to our work (to put it another way, not launching projects because we want them to be successful, but rather launching projects because we’re curious as to what will happen), embracing pockets of low level bloggers that would normally be ignored (you wouldn’t believe how willing many of them are to give hours to a project, if you just bother letting them know that you recognize their work, and appreciate their thoughts.), Taking ourselves less seriously (we’re monkeys with keyboards after all) .And finally instead of asking ourselves “how do we create the movement?” we should be asking ourselves, “how can we discover the movements that aren’t even aware that they are a “movement” yet – and what tools, and strategies can we use to facilate their rise?"

Emergency Action Blog: Reviewing Our First Day

The Blogs & Music that Healed the World

We are living in Kuhnian times. Revolutions are happening by the hour. Blogpolitics is already ancient history, even while having a much greater future. Now blogs are tying together newspapers, artists, musicians and such that can and should be marshalled to create, very rapidly, a vast amount of financial and informational relief.

Newspapers can give free advertising for a Tsunami Aid concert, featuring local, national and world acts, which is then carried over blogs, with links for charitable giving. In exchange, the blogs can carry an ad for the newspaper, bla bla bla. Work it out. It's for a good cause. And an urgent one at that.

--Anonymoses

At the Global Voices blog, Ethan comments:

"I think it’s critically important to connect with someone personally affected by the disaster as a way of understanding it better."

This is something I think we bloggers should aspire to accomplish, along with putting forth effort to ease the pain of this disaster by advertising, coordinating, and supporting all related relief efforts.

Tsunami Relief List

Tsunami Relief List


I join in prayer and concern for the millions affected by the earthquakes and tidal waves in South Asia. Thanks to already-compiled internet lists, I offer you links to organizations that are responding to the crisis. (This list is by no means complete or exhaustive of all worthy organizations.)

+ United Nations


+ Catholic Relief Service

+ Christian Aid

+ Church World Service

+ Lutheran World Relief

+ Mennonite Central Committee

+ Mercy Corps

+ World Concern

+ World Relief

+ World Vision

+ World Emergency Relief

+ Intl Red Crescent

+ Intl Red Cross

+ Plan USA

+ Doctors without borders

+ CAFOD

+ CARE INTERNATIONAL

+ OXFAM

+ SAVE THE CHILDREN

+ Food For The Hungry Inc

+ UNICEF

+ Brother's Brother Foundation

+ Baptist World Aid

+ B'nai B'rith International

+ Christian Children's Fund

+ Medecins Sans Frontieres

OTHER RESOURCES:

SEA EAT (The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog) - Packed with important resource information.

EMERGENCY ACTION BLOG - This project got underway in the past 48 hours. Designed to handle future relief coordination activities, within a few hours of arising need.

ACT FOR CHANGE: Urge President Bush to Increase Tsunami Aid

Blogger Corps - A New Idea

Blogger Corps - A New Idea

What is Blogger Corps, you ask?

Who thought of the idea?

How is the young idea evolving?

Who is talking about Blogger Corps?

BuzzFlash Failure of the Year: George W. Bush

Click on photo for link

Exit polls give pro-West Yushchenko big win

Exit polls give pro-West Yushchenko big win in Ukraine vote

Good news! Perhaps, if the fickle fingers of fraudulent fiddling are kept off the voting process in Ukraine today, the exit polls will prove themselves to be perfectly accurate, unlike the highly
questionable AMERICAN election.

2004 Farce of the Year

2004 Farce of the Year


This wins my Medal of Farcedom

Oh, but have no fear! It will all be over soon.

Chris Wallace Disappoints

Chris Wallace Disappoints
Fox News worthless tripe

Chris Wallace looks like a completely watered down version of his father. In an interview with Lynne Cheney on Fox News this morning, with a completely straight face, he compared the Iraq war to 1776. He claimed the Americans were "defending their country". That is not what they are doing. The 1776 spirit is MISSING where it belongs - in the hearts of the Iraqi people. This is where the rubber of lies meets the road of reality, and there's nothing the Bush administration can do to supplement that spirit, other than to continue using our men and women as surrogate Iraqi "independence seekers".

Our troops are there based on the blatant lie (told again and again by Ms. Cheney's husband) that there was a connection to the 9/11 attacks. Let's not get carried away with patriotic fervor in such a way that we lose all sense of reality.

Chris Wallace should be ashamed of himself. He worked very hard to magnify the division of our fine American people with his entire line of questioning.

Worthless journalism.

Kerry Preparing Grounds to Unconcede?

Kerry Preparing Grounds to Unconcede?

I wish you peace at Christmas

I wish you peace at Christmas

"And in despair I bowed my head;
'There is not peace on earth,' I said
'For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep,
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.'"

--From I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, written during the American Civil War

There is not peace on earth today, but it is a hope that was laid down in the New Testament. Peace on Earth was the angel's cry.

Peace.

May we strive for it.

May we demand it.

May we find it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May we also care for the earth for which peace was intended.

When you "hear the bells on Christmas Day", my highest hope is that you heed the words of victorian philosopher John Ruskin:

"God has lent us the earth for our life; it is a great entail. It belongs as much to those who are to come after us, and whose names are already written in the book of creation. We have no right, by anything we do or neglect, to involve them in unnecessary penalties, or deprive them of benefits which it was in our power to bequeath."


I wish you a Merry Christmas.


--Jude

Riverbend's Christmas Wishlist

Riverbend's Christmas Wishlist

Riverbend has a Christmas list, too. Here it is, in part:

"I have to make this fast.

No electricity for three days in a row (well, unless you count that glorious hour we got 3 days ago...). Generators on gasoline are hardly working at all. Generators on diesel fuel aren't faring much better- most will only work for 3 or 4 straight hours then they have to be turned off to rest.

Ok- what is the typical Iraqi Christmas wishlist (I won't list 'peace', 'security' and 'freedom' - Christmas miracles are exclusive to Charles Dickens), let's see:

1. 20 liters of gasoline
2. A cylinder of gas for cooking
3. Kerosene for the heaters
4. Those expensive blast-proof windows
5. Landmine detectors
6. Running water
7. Thuraya satellite phones (the mobile phone services are really, really bad of late)
8. Portable diesel generators (for the whole family to enjoy!)
9. Coleman rechargeable flashlight with extra batteries (you can never go wrong with a fancy flashlight)
10. Scented candles (it shows you care- but you're also practical)

When Santa delivers please make sure he is wearing a bullet-proof vest and helmet. He should also politely ring the doorbell or knock, as a more subtle entry might bring him face to face with an AK-47. With the current fuel shortage, reindeer and a sleigh are highly practical- but Rudolph should be left behind as the flashing red nose might create a bomb scare (we're all a little jumpy lately)."

The Rebel Jesus

The Rebel Jesus
by Jackson Browne

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants' windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for God's graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by 'the Prince of Peace'
And they call him by 'the Savior'
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
And they fill his churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus



We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

But pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgement
For I've no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In a life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus


LINK

Supporting Troops: My column at American Street

Supporting Troops: My Column at American Street

My American Street column for Thursday, December 23, is here: Supporting the troops with concern and truth at Christmas

Excerpt:

It’s because I want a strong military and because I support our troops that I would appeal to our leaders to rethink the Neocon democracy-utopianism that has brought such tangible and disastrous result in Iraq. We are virtually hanging solo out on a limb in the Middle East by our own choosing. The nations that border upon Iraq are not our strong diplomatic partners. I’d wager, in their hearts, the governments of those nations want to see us fail in Iraq. We aren’t going to get very far with an overstretched military and no support from the nations that exist all around Iraq’s young and fragile democracy.

“…Meanwhile, Syria endeavors to strengthen its solidarity with other Arab and friendly countries as a “first choice” under pressure and its efforts seemed to have paid off. President Assad made visits to Turkey, Spain, China, Iran, in addition to trips to neighboring countries, during which he reasserted his country’s principled stances and garnered support.
Arab foreign ministers on Sept. 14 voiced “full solidarity” with Lebanon against any attempt to sever Lebanon-Syria ties and renewed rejection to a unilateral US sanction against Syria. LINK

There is no adequate or realistic effort on the part of Iraqi citizens to stand up and fight the insurgents, even with the mighty support of the US military. In his press conference this week, President Bush said: “The Iraqi force is not ready to fight.” [...]

[..] As Christmas approaches, I want all our troops and their families to know they do have a friend in those who would question the way this war is being handled by Washington D.C. It’s my firm belief that it’s people like us are the best friends and supporters of the men and women who would give all and anything - for us. We watch each other’s backs. We fight for freedom, even if freedom requires debate and dirt-honest truth.

My Christmas wish for the troops is that they come home safely and are asked to serve only for truth and high moral purpose.

As for Iraq, if we can’t get it right, then GET THEM HOME.

Patty Ann Smith has a holiday message about our troops at Hope4America.

The Real Grinch

The Real Grinch

Rabbi Michael Lerner reveals the real Grinch who has stolen Christmas.

Excerpt:

"There is a beautiful spiritual message underlying Christmas that has universal appeal: the hope that gets reborn in moments of despair, the light that gets re-lit in the darkest moments of the year, is beautifully symbolized by the story of a child born of a teenage homeless mother who had to give birth in a manger because no one would give her shelter, and escaping the cruelty of Roman imperial rule and its local surrogate Herod who already knew that such a child would grow up to challenge the entire imperialist system. To celebrate that vulnerable child as a symbol of hope that eventually the weak would triumph over the rule of the arrogant and powerful is a spiritual celebration with strong analogies to our Jewish Chanukah celebration which also celebrates the victory of the weak over the powerful. And many other spiritual traditions around the world have similar celebrations at this time of year.

The loss of this message, its subversion into a frenetic orgy of consumption, rightly disturbs Christians and other people of faith.

Yet this transformation is not a result of Jewish parents wanting to protect their children from being forced to sing Christmas carols in public school, or secularists sending Seasons Greeting cards. It derives, instead, from the power of the capitalist marketplace, operating through television, movies and marketers, to drum into everyone's mind the notion that the only way to be a decent human being at this time of year is to buy and buy more."

Internet Quiz-What crappy gift are you?

You Are a Losing Lottery Ticket! *Geez, I've never been called a cheap letdown before. Really, I haven't.

Full of hope and promise. But in the end, a cheap letdown.

What Crappy Gift Are You?

tip of the hat to dot.

From The Edwards'/To the Edwards'

Thanks!
And the same to you, Edwards family.
May 2005 find you all healthy and happy.

--Jude

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'll fight hard on the things that I care about," [John] Edwards said on PBS' "Charlie Rose Show" last week. "And that means, I hope, working on some specific projects that can be accomplished over the next few years. Concrete things.

"It also means speaking, speaking here, and maybe speaking abroad, working on some ideas and some public policy institutes."

Elizabeth Edwards said she expects her husband to be out campaigning for congressional and state legislative candidates during the 2006 election. Asked whether she wants him to run for president again in 2008, she replied: "I want him to be a voice in this process."

"I wanted him to be president," she said. "That's why I campaigned so hard in the primaries. And if I still feel the same way in 2007, I'll probably want him to be president then. But it's not 2007."

~~~~~~~~~~

I can't wait for 2007, already. *wink*

Keith Olbermann Reports on the Clinton Curtis Story

Keith Olbermann Reports on the Clinton Curtis Story

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has released the Clinton Curtis story - albeit carefully. A review of the comments from the public shows a mixed reaction. Some believe Mr. Olbermann did not broadcast an accurate rendering of the story, as we've come to understand it on Raw Story and Brad Blog. Others are, at the very least, glad Mr. Olbermann was brave enough to take the story on, especially in the face of great intimidation from the likes of Congressman Tom Feeney, who threatened legal action with nearly every question he answered in an interview which he granted to MSNBC.

At Raw Story, there is dismay expressed at the observation that Mr. Olbermann, for all intents and purposes, seems to have taken Yang's lawyer at his word and failed to report about the case involving Yang's employment of an illegal alien who attempted to send missile technology to Beijing. (A case rife with the possibility of anti-American activity).

I would hope we would appreciate Mr. Olbermann for what he is trying to do, which is to accept the responsibility he has, as a professional journalist, to keep track of what is being discussed in the blogosphere and put this case out to the public - to let them know what's happening in the undercurrent and allow truth to emerge, if there is a deeper truth to be found. We all know how tough it must be to convince your corporate media bosses to allow you to let a story like this one to fly in the first place. Keith is sticking his neck out, and I don't think we should chop it off with expectation that he will talk like a grassroots blogger. That's not what he is, even if he writes a blog. I do respect him for what he's doing, in light of the capacity in which he's capable of doing it.

___________________


Here are excerpts from comments at Raw Story:

"If there is an ounce of truth to this article Congressman Feeney, YEI, State of Florida, George & Jeb Bush and our system of government have major problems. Considering the seriousness of Mr. Curtis accusations in the notarized statement and possible crimes that may have been committed the US Government should provide protection for Mr. Curtis, Yang and Cohen until it can check out the circumstances surrounding this event. The legal power (power of Congress, power of subpoena, whatever) must be used to compel the States of Florida, Ohio, companies such as Diebold, ESS et al to divulge, to a proper panel of experts, any and all hard drives, source code and compiled code that was in use on November 2, 2004 in Florida and Ohio voting systems, tabulating machines and/or the development of all software programs and/or all machines. The software prototype that Curtis claims to have created could also have been used on optical-scan counting and/or tabulating machines used in Florida in 2000. Something very, very wrong happened during this 2004 election. The public senses it and the mainline media intentionally avoids it. Congress must thoroughly investigate all claims made otherwise trust in our voting process and system of government will be destroyed. I quote John Bonifaz; “For the dignity of our nation; and for the dignity of ourselves; and for the memory of those who struggled before us, we must choose to fight.” If Congress doesn’t prosecute all parties involved in this gross malfeasance and series of illegal events then the citizens of this great country will find the solution."

-- from a Commenter only known as "G"



"Feeney “says he doesn’t remember” - this is GOP speak for - “thinks he can get away with lying, but wants to leave a safeguard in case he gets caught”

--Comment by Must_B_Free


"Go easy on Keith. He’s better than a lot of the other reporting slime out there. If the world were filled with Keith Obermanns [sic] giving the news, it would be better than what we have now."

--from Comment by Anonymous

"If the mainstream media hasn’t jumped on this already it never will. The iron is hot yet the media doesn’t strike. Sorry to say it, but this is the beginning of the end of our democratic experiement.."

--from Comment by Jeff

"I don’t think it is a good idea to disparage Olbermann, as he is our only friend. Perhaps a better tactic would be to e-mail Keith and ask him to clarify his strategy."

--from Comment by acbalint

"He set himself up as the only reporter brave enough to report on the Election fraud, but all he’s done is treat anyone who comes forward as a tin foil hat nut job.."

--from Comment by Buckeye

"I have since come to realize that Keith Obermann isn’t trying to give our cause fair coverage. He is simply pacifying us. I get the impression that he is just like all the rest of the media, (rolling his eye’s in exasperation). Hopefully I’m wrong! But I really don’t think so. I for one am not directing anyone his direction any longer. No coverage is better then bad coverage."

--from Comment by J.C.

"Disgruntled employee” always deserves a second look because more and more it is the Republican response to whistleblowers. Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism boss, was called a disgruntled employee when he wrote his book AGAINST ALL ENEMIES. Paul O’neill, ex-Secretary of the Treasury, likewise. Where there is a Republican-named “disgruntled employee” there is no doubt smoke. Where there’s smoke, we’re going to find fire."

--from Comment by Robert Locke

Tim Russert Caught! Mischaracterized Howard Dean Statement

Tim Russert Caught! Mischaracterized Howard Dean Statement
Media Matters

We know Tim Russert knows far better than to pull something like this:

On the December 19 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, moderator Tim Russert mischaracterized remarks former Vermont Governor Howard Dean made on the program a week earlier about the Democratic Party's position on abortion. Russert played a clip from the December 12 Meet the Press, in which Dean suggested that the party "ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats" and have a "respectful dialogue" about the issue. Russert then asked Wall Street Journal national political editor John Harwood if Democrats are "rethinking their position on cultural, moral issues, on abortion?" But immediately preceding the section of the clip of Dean that Russert played, Dean had clearly stated that Democrats should change their "vocabulary" but not their "principles" on abortion, and that the Democrats are "the party of allowing people to make up their own minds about medical treatment."

Russert's video clip of Dean also cut out the middle portion of Dean's answer to Russert's question on abortion. In between the clips Russert aired, Dean had strongly asserted that Democrats who are pro-life should be welcomed into the party because they stand for other core Democratic values: "[T]hey're pro-life not just for unborn children. They're pro-life for investing in children's programs. They're pro-life for helping small children and young families. They're pro-life in making sure adequate medical care happens to children. That's what you so often lack on the Republican side."

So why on earth do you suppose he did it?

Let them know you know - and that you're not at all happy about it.

Contact:
Tim Russert mtp@msnbc.com

Contact:
Meet the Press Meet the Press

Contact:
NBC Nightly@NBC.com
NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112
Phone: 212-664-4444
Fax: 212-664-4426

Greensboro, NC Bloggers: You're In the News

Greensboro, NC Bloggers: You're In the News

The good word about the community spirit of bloggers of Greensboro, N.C. is spreading like wildfire across the blogiverse.

Today at the Moderate Voice, Joe Gandelman expands upon Jay Rosen's Press Think story. Joe has posted a cross section of comment and links on the story -- "which could mark the first step in a new era for newspapers". Many of the links are from Greensboro-based blogs; he also links John Robinson's News-Record in Greensboro.

David K. Beckwith, also known as Anonymoses Hyperlincoln, of Charlotte N.C., has posted about a rather heated discussion taking place at the News Record and had also made mention of my long-distance connection with the Greensboro bunch. I recognized them, early on, as a group with the collective heart it takes to become a community that can effect real and meaningful democratic change. A writer at The American Street, Mr. Beckwith has also spread the saga of the Greensboro bunch at the widely-read website.

*I had written about this last week when showcasing Greensboro (Bloggers) Meet-Up organizer (and my literary colleague) Billy Jones' Christmas classic "The Reindeer Shoe".

At the Moderate Voice, I offered to vouch for my own hometown newspaper, the Post Standard, which has been a willing sponsor of blogging for over a year in Syracuse NY.

Greensboro has definitely got it goin' on!

I must also vouch for my hometown newspaper, The Post Standard of Syracuse N.Y.

The Syracuse newspapers have incorporated a plethora of blogs from freelance writers into their website at http://www.syracuse.com/weblogs/

I know this because I am one of their many bloggers. http://syracuse.com/weblogs/politics/

Jay Rosen has an excellent update on the story at Press Think, which includes a brief interview with Roch Smith Jr, founder of the aggregator and forum site Greensboro101. Jay also provides a discussion about the evolution of the News and Record's editor John Robinson's search for a new model in online journalism. The Lex Files and Ed Cone are used as resources.
*Great job on this story, Jay --Jude*

Kos: Exley doesn't "get it"

Kos: Exley doesn't "get it".

Kos spills it, straight as an arrow. He thinks Zach Exley, who acted as online communications chief for the Kerry-Edwards campaign, is an "idiot". A strong statement? Yes. Read Kos' blog to find out why this is his belief.

"...there's a reason people are still loyal to Dean even after Kerry has been abandoned by legions of Democrats.

Unlike Kerry's effort, what Dean and Trippi built was the stuff of political movements, and it was built on a foundation of communication. Exley can laugh this off all he wants, but the Kerry campaign never came close to matching up.

The Kerry campaign had little interest in communicating with supporters, and Zach Exley, regardless his fancy title, was a big part of the reason why."

Orange Stars of David?

"..The settlers are sending an appalling and misguided message to the people of Israel and the world..by likening the Holocaust to a political process, the horror of the Holocaust is being deligitimized and fuel is being provided for Holocaust denial.Using Holocaust imagery is an offense to survivors, the Jewish people, and taints the memory of Holocaust victims.."

--Abraham Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League

Orange Stars of David:
Gaza Settlers Step Over the Line of Good Judgement

According to MSNBC, "some Jewish settlers said Tuesday they will soon start wearing orange stars on their shirts in a provocative campaign comparing the government’s Gaza withdrawal plan to the Nazi Holocaust."

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Anti-Defamation League has issued a statement against the use of the orange Star of David badges to protest the disengagement plan.

“This is a very troubling comparison. The Nazis put Jews “into gas chambers, killing them, crushing their bones, spreading the remains in great piles all over Europe. What is going on here?”

--Shevah Weiss, a Holocaust survivor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The plan to wear orange stars perverts the historical facts and damages the memory of the Shoah.”

--Yad Vashem’s director Avner Shalev, who has urged the settlers to refrain from using the stars.

Eliot Spitzer Watch 12/21

Eliot Spitzer Watch 12/21

-New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer will appear on CNBC's Kudlow & Cramer at 5:00 pm EST this afternoon.

-From Newsday:

"Will Tony Bennett leave his heart in Massapequa? The silky-voiced singer has created a buzz by agreeing to croon at Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi's Jan. 13 fund-raiser. Suozzi fans hope the event will show state Democrats that their guy could be an alternative to gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer. But it'd be hard to outdo the attorney general. Given his deep pockets, Spitzer could hire any headliner. The Rolling Stones, anyone?"

-From the Boston Globe:

"When Spitzer recently announced that he would run for governor of New York, Democrats cheered him as a figure popular enough to win back the Empire State's governorship and nervy enough to reconnect his party to the little guy through David-vs.-Goliath attacks on corporations. But while Spitzer seems like a pretty strong candidate for 2006, whether or not three-term incumbent George Pataki stands for reelection, his brand of politics runs counter to almost all the trends that were visible in the recent election: He is running as a non-ideological enforcer of the public interest in a political era hot-wired with ideology."

-From The Seattle Post-Intelligencer-

"..an investigation begun in the spring by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer resulted in a series of subpoenas and lawsuits against major brokers and insurance companies. His actions sent the share prices of the companies tumbling, and legal and regulatory action in 2005 could further affect earnings, analysts say."

Our soldiers at Mosul

AP photo, BBC

"..Amid the screaming and thick smoke in the tent, soldiers turned their tables upside down, placed the wounded on them and gently carried them into the parking lot [..]It made no difference whether the casualties were soldiers or civilians, Americans or Iraqis [..] "They were all brothers in arms taking care of one another." [..] Insurgents have fired mortars at the chow hall more than 30 times this year."

Our soldiers at Mosul

I am beyond speech right now.

Ansar al-Sunna has claimed responsibility for the attack.

James Reynolds, a BBC correspondent, says the military was aware its dining hall was vulnerable to attack and was building a stronger structure nearby.

They were sitting ducks and we knew it. The risk was acceptable to us. Knowing we sent those soldiers to Mosul in a rush to crush an insurgency without adequate or proper security, the words "Bring them home!" are the only ones that repeat in my mind...over and over again. I can't help it. I know the President wants to bring democracy to Iraq, but the people of Iraq must learn to desire it strongly enough to fight for it themselves. I don't see it happening. We can't fight their civil wars for them forever. Is my patience wearing thin? You bet your Army boots, it is!

I'm not alone. Any belief in a contribution to American security resulting from the Iraq war is diminished by the fact that, in a recent poll, 70% of Americans said they thought any gains have come at an "unacceptable" cost in military casualties. 56% in the Washington Post-ABC News survey said the Iraq War was a mistake, period.

A Tribute to Greg Rund

"Every man has his own destiny: the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him."

--Henry Miller

A Tribute to Greg Rund


Photo: ABC News

My heart goes out to the family of fallen marine Greg Rund. His story caught my eye because he was a survivor of the infamous Columbine High School massacre. He had been a freshman at the time. Yet, that's not what his family would have you remember about their son. "Greg made us so proud, but he never wanted to be recognized for his actions," said the statement from his family. "Neither Columbine nor Iraq was to define him." People who knew him best said that Greg had a "God-given gift" of being able to make people smile and laugh.

It was this depth of feeling, his pastor said, that led him to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps just a month after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"His passion touched his patriotism on 9/11," said the Rev. Stephen Poos-Benson at the service at Columbine United Church. "His sense of patriotism was offended. Greg felt called to respond."

Hold Rumsfeld Accountable, Regardless of Sentiment

Hold Rumsfeld Accountable, Regardless of Sentiment

President Bush may believe Donald Rumsfeld is a caring soul with the best heart in the world, but nothing will change the fact that a lot of our troops have died and have been maimed because of his piss-poor ideas.

The road the HELL is paved with good intentions.

Hold him accountable.

Make him step down.

Jacoby Book on "Freethinkers" Reviewed at The Revealer

Jacoby Book on "Freethinkers" Reviewed at The Revealer

The Revealer, edited by Jeff Sharlet, is one of the best blogs on the web, in my opinion. I recently nominated them best of the blogs at Wampum.


As a self-avowed "freethinker", I enjoyed reading Brendan Boyle's review of Susan Jacoby's book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (Metropolitan Books, 2004):

“Freethinker” isn’t a very fashionable term. The adjective-noun coupling gives it a faintly archaic redolence. Susan Jacoby would like her book to inject new life into this once-venerable but now out-of-favor designation. The first two-thirds of the book is a loving treatment of an assortment of so-called secular humanists. It’s a wildly mixed bag. Jefferson takes top billing, followed by Revolutionary insurrectionist Thomas Paine, firebrand abolitionist William Garrison, emancipator-cum-cipher Abraham Lincoln, Seneca Falls planners Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the “Great Agnostic” Robert Ingersoll. Along the way, Walt Whitman, Clarence Darrow, and Margaret Sanger make brief cameos.

I live just a short drive from Seneca Falls, the home of the alleged real-life setting for "It's A Wonderful Life's" Bedford Falls. A few years ago, I attended a "gala preview" in Seneca Falls with guest speakers Ken Burns and Paul Barnes, who'd just finished preparing their PBS documentary about Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, titled "Not For Ourselves Alone". Elizabeth Cady Stanton's great-great granddaughter (in her 80's) was in attendance, and what I recall best about her was that she stood up and spoke about how much her own grey curls resembled those of her beloved Grandmother's. Having lost none of her Grandmother's determination to keep women independent and disappointed that the 19th amendment had still not come to the fruition of what she imagined her Grandmother's expectation would have been, the contemporary "Cady-Stanton" had never lost the sentiment and Christian-based spirit that tied her to her ancestor through the wisp of those sweet grey curls.

Brendan Boyle's review strikes a chord of harmonious agreement in me when he comments on the decidedly spiritual emptiness of Jacoby's "freethinker" frames:

"Jacoby is embarrassed by the faintest whiff of religion in one of her freethinkers. Susan Anthony somberly mused that, “if it be true that we die like the flower, leaving behind only the fragrance … what a delusion has the race ever been in … what a dream is the life of man.” For this weakness of will, Jacoby bumps her down one notch in the secularist standings and elevates instead Ernestine Rose, Polish emigre and hardened atheist “who unflinchingly and unfailingly rejected the idea that it was possible to communicate with spirits of the dead.” This is the lowest point of the book. To read Jacoby, we might have thought Anthony was leading a séance, conjuring up spirits from the other side. But of course she is doing nothing of the sort. Her existential sounding -- echoed by other freethinkers like Garrison, Lincoln, and Ingersoll -- is not a failure of nerve but expressions of a deeply felt human need to see purpose in the world."

Henry Ward Beecher said: "Faith is spiritualized imagination."
Imagination.
That leads me to a freethinking literary luminary named Anais Nin, who said:"There are many ways to be free. One of them is to transcend reality by imagination, as I try to do." Transcendence of thought leads to great vision. When selecting those whose thought has been truly "free", we secularists tend to idolize all we de-spiritualize and enthrone those with the steeliest assuredness that God does not come into the equation whatsoever. Oh, how I disagree. "Freethinking" has its place in the spirit as well as in the secular world and I would personally place those who, throughout the course of their lives, examine all thought - mystical and secular - as the most careful, trustworthy, humble, and completely free thinkers of all.

Let Elizabeth Cady Stanton's own words ring loud and true:

"The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls."

--Elizabeth Cady Stanton

~~~~~~~~~~

According to The Revealer, Florida State Senator Daniel Webster said last week that he is "exploring the possibility" of proposing a constitutional amendment to repeal Florida's separation of church and state. The proposal comes in the wake of a November Florida court ruling against using vouchers for religious schools, and Webster said he thought of proposing an amendment after realizing "how clear the constitution seems on the matter" of separation of church and state. The Florida A.C.L.U. translates: "'So if the constitution stands in the way of their radical agenda, don't change the radical agenda -- change the constitution.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The writers at the Revealer say they can't stand to read yet another story about the battle for Christmas, but if we're convinced that American Christians are victims, or that Christmas is a Christian conspiracy, "here's some fuel for our indignation from The Washington Post's Alan Cooperman. Quote: "There's a push-back by many conservative Christians, perhaps emboldened by the recent election.."
Hardcore Christmas partisans will want to turn to the New York Observer's Nicholas Von Hoffman, who investigates the nasty economic roots of the "suicide season." My favorite line: "The mobs of long ago have become the agitated shoppers of today."

More news on the Clinton Curtis story

More news on the Clinton Curtis story

Here's the latest on that Clinton Curis story that you are definitely NOT hearing on CNN or MSNBC or FOX News. (This, my dear readers, is where bloggers are of the greatest service to the people of their country).

According to RAW STORY (and thanks to Brad Blog), we learn that Curtis' former employer (who allegedly asked him to create a vote-rigging prototype) has been caught in an apparent (substantial) lie about hiring an illegal alien which may be related to a case of missile technolgy-based Chinese spying. (The illegal alien had pled guilty to trying to send missile parts to Beijing).

I cannot believe this stuff is happening so far below the mainstream media's detection radar. Perhaps they are afraid to talk about it. Who knows? All I know is that I am thankful for bloggers like John Byrne and Brad Friedman.

How We Became Barbarians

photo credit: zeldapinwheel.com

"Someone who can scarf popcorn all through *both* Kill Bills will go hoarse about the killing of innocents in Israel or Iraq or anywhere suitably distant. Someone who'd cheer a B-52 strike on Baghdad will murmur feelingly about the perfect little hands of a second trimester fetus [..]..the claptrap about terrorism has gone far enough. Brutes should at least recognize their own brutality. None of us, left, right, or center, are all that bothered about the deliberate killing of innocents. [...] ..What makes atrocities criminal, even for barbarians like ourselves, is when they go beyond what self-interest commands..."


How We Became Barbarians

Michael Neumann, philosophy professor at Trent University in Ontario, Canada wants to know: Are you in touch with your inner terrorist?

Michael Hardt: On Collaboration & 'The Multitude'

Michael Hardt: On Collaboration & 'The Multitude'

There is an interview with co-author of the book Empire, Michael Hardt at the minnesota review titled "The Collaborator and the Multitude".

A section of the book explores "how the multitude can become a political subject," and describes the multitude as "an insurgent multitude against imperial power." Walter Benn Michaels, in another minnesota review interview, has called the section of the book that deals with this subject matter as a "paean to the poor, as if poverty were a culture."

""[ .. ]in Empire, which I've just been writing about, you get Hardt and Negri, who are not interested in culture but who ontologize the world the same way that cultural identity does, so they reach a point where they have this kind of paean to the poor, as if poverty were a culture. You want to say it's not the point to admire the poor; surely the point is to get rid of the fact of their being poor. The difference between the rich and the poor is that the rich, as Hemingway kept saying, have more money. When you start treating the poor as an identity category, what's left of your Marxism is precious little."

Hardt's comments, in part:

"If we recognize that global power is tending toward the form we describe as Empire, and that we're inside of that, and that we're all contaminated by it and part of it, and that there's no outside from which we could claim purity—that recognition doesn't have to be a resignation. It can be the basis of a project from within, posing something different. [ .. ]
My feeling is that September 11, and then the war on terrorism afterwards has been very comforting to a certain style of left theorists, or even left political thinkers. Prior to that it seemed like the old concepts didn't work and things were changing in the world, forming new kinds of power, and the old forms of political resistance didn't work. Then, post-September 11 and through Afghanistan and particularly with Iraq, it's as if all the old categories work again. What we have is U.S. imperialism, what we need is a national liberation struggle, etc. Which leads to a quite active debate: Should the anti-war movement be explicitly in support of the Iraqi national resistance? Of course, if it's imperialism, that's what you should do. That's what we did throughout the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies. The response to imperialism is national liberation struggle."

For those who collaborate on writing projects, I found this statement by Michael Hardt, who co-authored Empire (Harvard 2000) with Antonio Negri, to be interesting:

"What interests me is partly a question about voice. I've noticed that when I write with Toni, or when he writes with me, one tends to write differently. The first way of describing it is that one tends to ventriloquize, even with the ideas of the other person. Each of you tries to write in the voice of the other. But I think that you're not really writing in the voice of the other; you're both writing in some third voice that's neither of your voices. I'm tempted to call it an anonymous voice, but if you want to connect it to multitude it would better if it were a kind of common voice."

Holiday Card

From the Talent Company
*thanks to Nick Lewis for pointing it out

Eliot Spitzer 2006

"The Old Testament teaches that a people without vision will perish. That's so relevant for us today in New York. We need a vision for change because without it, this state and its
great tradition of providing unparalleled
opportunity will be further eroded."

-Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer 2006

Become a friend of Eliot Spitzer here. (I've become a friend of Eliot- I encourage you to join me.)

Learn more about Eliot here.

Contributions to Eliot's campaign can be made here.

In today's headlines:

WSTM/TV3 Syracuse:Two years out, Democrats appear more prepared for governor's race

"Democrats appear more prepared for the governor's race of 2006 than do Republicans who have held the job for the past decade. That's because the Democrats have a clear front-runner. Earlier this month, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced he is definitely running for governor."

NY Daily News: Gov. Flip-flopper - Pataki is a leader adrift and his have-it-both-ways stand on fair hikes is the perfect symbol

"When George Pataki first ran for governor in 1994, the subway fare was $1.25, and candidate Pataki said an "increase is something we do not want." He was elected governor, gaining control of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and within a year the fare jumped to $1.50. When Pataki sought a third term in 2002, he again opposed a fare hike, saying, "We want to have the system operate more efficiently and attract more riders ... that's the way to balance the budget." He was reelected - and soon the fare hit $2."

Poughkeepsie Journal: Spitzer contacts local station in payola probe - Radio pay-for-play is investigated

"New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has contacted WDST (100.1 FM) in Woodstock as part of an investigation into pay-for-play practices in the music industry...Pay-for-play, or payola, involves record companies or independent promoters working for record companies paying radio stations with money or other compensation in return for the station playing particular songs more than others. Payola is illegal when not disclosed to listeners."

Matthew Gross Promotes GoMainStream.org

Mathew Gross Promotes GoMainStream.org

Mathew Gross, Mark Sundeen, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are appealing to values which most Americans hold in common - regardless of whether we're on the right or left; whether we live in cities or in rural areas; whether our respective states are considered politically red or blue.

We all want clean air, clean water, and open lands.

Matt asks us to take one minute to learn about his new organization and to forward this email to everyone you know, and ask them to join GoMainStream.org.

His e-mail reads:

We’re building an army, and you are among the first to sign up.

GoMainStream.org was launched when Mark Sundeen and I joined up with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and asked ourselves -- could we combine Bobby’s dedication to defending the environment with our lessons from the Dean campaign and revitalize the conservation movement in the United States?

We formed GoMainStream.org as an answer to that question.

We formed GoMainStream.org because more than 90% of Americans hold our values in common -- clean air, clean water, open lands -- yet 40% think that "most environmental activists don’t really care about people."

We formed GoMainStream because the corporate plunderers have hijacked our public lands and the public process.

And we formed GoMainStream because they’ve hijacked our language. They call polluting the air "Clear Skies" -- and they call it "development" and "access" when they lock Americans out of the public lands that we hike, hunt, fish and love.

We’re going to change that. And we’re going to change it by building a new coalition from the bottom-up -- an organization that helps Americans take action and that works to reframe the debate about the future of our country.

We’re going to do it by connecting hunters fighting to maintain access to elk habitat with suburbanites combating urban sprawl.

Because conservation is not an issue of right or left, or urban versus rural, or red versus blue.

It’s an issue of who we are as Americans.

In the coming months, we’ll be rolling out the online elements of GoMainStream.org -- tools that will speed up the networking potential of online activists, and that empower Americans to defend our way of life.

But first we have to build the army, and you can help today.

Take one minute to forward this email to everyone you know, and ask them to join us. They can sign up by clicking here:

http://www.gomainstream.org

Thank you for being with us at the very beginning.

Mathew Gross
GoMainStream.org

At Billy Jones' website, Billy speaks highly of Matt and the hope for the success of his new organization:

Ever heard of Mathew Gross? How about Howard Dean? Well it just so happens that my hometown friend and neighbor, Matt Gross, is the man who helped found Howard Dean’s 2004 Presidental Internet movement. That’s right, Matt Gross gave up months and months of his life to work-- sometimes for free-- to put Howard Dean in the White house. Regretfully-- at least for some of us-- it just didn’t work out.

But you haven’t heard the end of Mathew Gross, not yet. Through the use of his weblog MathewGross.com, Matt has managed to cultivate a daily readership of thousands upon thousands of everyday people like me and you who see the current White house administration as the leaders of a horde of Lemmings bent on destroying themselves and everything else with them. Now Mathew Gross, his friend, Mark Sundeen, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have teamed-up to start their biggest project yet-- GoMainStream.org-- a nonprofit environmental organization that all of us, true liberals and true conservatives alike, can join to help save the world from current and future environmental nightmares.

*Well-said, Billy*

Mel Gilles will be providing critical organizing support for GoMainstream.org.

Karma

Karma

For what it's worth, I took a karma test today. The test is meant to measure what shape your karma's in.

I was told:

jude, in the last year you've earned 874 karma points

You've earned these points by doing good things, therefore allowing good things to circle back to you. There are 6 different ways people earn karma, and by looking at your responses to this test, we can tell that your compassionate nature is earning you the most karma.

In fact, you seem to have a real knack for both understanding what people are going through and finding ways to support them during difficult times. By being a sensitive person with a keen sense of empathy, you can do much to alleviate others' pain. This has been an important way you've earned your karma up to this point. This kindness strengthens your current relationships but suggests it will come back to you positively in the future. Through your concerted efforts to care about and tend to the needs of others, you generate good karma for yourself and the universe.

I find this to be an accurate statement about my nature. Over the past year, I have donated many hours to helping others in my community, with no expectation of reward for myself. The old "I feel your pain" cliche is true for me. Sometimes I wish I could escape feeling the pain of others, but it is my nature to be empathetic at all times. I should have a gigantic "E" etched into my forehead. What does it get me? I'm not sure--and I don't really care--but I did score those 874 "Karma points". Yee ha.

Jude, Patron Saint of Other's Walking Shoes.

Washington Times'"reliable source" on al-Qaqaa Story is fired

Washington Times'"reliable source" on al-Qaqaa Story is fired

Last October I told you about a Washington Times story by Bill Gertz in which a so-called "reliable source" at the Pentagon, Jack Shaw (deputy undersecretary for international technology security) gave "reliable information" that Russia was allegedly behind the 342 tons of missing explosives from al-Qaqaa.

Well, it seems Jack Shaw's been canned (after refusing to resign).

Laura Rozen says Shaw seems to believe he's a victim of payback for his investigation of an Iraq cell phone deal allegedly benefiting friends of the office of Douglas Feith.

Chalk it up to an overabundance of trouble in Undersecretary paradise.