25 Years After Oscar Romero

"People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive..."
(2Timothy 3:2)

"I the Lord do not change."
(Malachi 3:6)



25 Years After Oscar Romero

The prophet is a light for our world, a voice that illuminates the darkness of sin and points the way towards overcoming that darkness. We are called to be light. Take with utmost seriousness what you are doing. We do not pass this light to one another as mere ritual or inspiration, something to make us feel good and to look beautiful.

Consider the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Slavador, who was killed 25 years ago. He gave his last homily on March 24, 1980 moments before a sharpshooter from a death-squad felled him, silencing his radical message of love. Two months earlier, Romero had written to U.S. President Jimmy Carter pleading with him to cease sending military aid to El Slavador because, he wrote, "it is being used to repress my people." The U.S. had sent $1.5 million in aid every day for 12 years. His letter went unheeded.

Romero had a simple message, but it contained the words that are hardest to hear, hardest to learn, hardest to live.

Many people complained that the film, The Passion of the Christ, contained too much gratuitous violence. When you consider that it was a message about the suffering of the world throughout the sad history of mankind's greed and often-violent oppression of the poor, the blood and gore displayed in the film begins to make all too much sense. Movies are generally meant to take us on a breezy route to beauty, but real beauty lies in the the light that reveals the angels of our higher nature. Those angels do not resemble Raphael's flowery vision, but bear the essence of the martyrs of Jusepe De Ribera's artistc interpretation.

Archbishop Romero said:

"God needs the people themselves to save the world. The world of the poor teaches us that liberation will arrive only when the poor are not simply on the receiving end of hand-outs from governments or from the churches, but when they themselves are the masters and protagonists of their own struggle for liberation."

"Unjust social structures are the roots of all violence and disturbances. The church's hard mission is to uproot sins from history, from the political order, from the economy."

"The church has put itself on the side of the poor and has assumed their defense. This means that the church incarnates itself in the world of the poor, proclaims a good news, gives hope, inspires a liberating praxis, defends the cause of the poor and participates in their destiny.

A Christian who does not wish to live this commitment of solidarity with the poor is not worthy of the name Christian. Go out and be light. May your word burn like the word of the prophets. May your defense of the poor and suffering, the victims of injustice and oppression, be a transforming power for our world."

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

Oscar Romero was once a little boy like the one who may be sleeping warm and snug in your cribs or tiny beds tonight. Being a witness to unspeakable injustice changed his heart and gave him focus. He was a prophet who lived in our time.

George W. Bush beats a mean drum when it comes to giving rhetorical lip service to Jesus, but he isn't going to be the one to save the world through his perverted politics. It's up to us - every one of us - to see that justice comes to the poor in the name of true liberation, regardless of their country of origin or their religion. They must be free to be the masters and protagonists of their own struggles.

I am not ashamed to say that I am committed to bear the force of love, no matter how radical that idea may seem to you; no matter how hard it may be for your ears to hear or your eyes to see.

I thank God for sending men like Oscar Romero to show us the face of angels who dwell among us.


Obispo Romero y los Martires de El Salvador
by House of Escalet - works by Frank Diaz Escalet


"No, brothers and sisters,
El Salvador need not always live like this.
“I will tear off the veil of shame
that covers it among all peoples.
I will wipe away the tears” (Isaiah 25:7–8.)
of all those mothers who no longer have tears
for having wept so much
over their children who are not found.
Here too will he take away the sorrow
of all those homes that this Sunday suffer
the mystery of dear ones abducted
or suffer murder
or torture
or torment.
That is not of God.
God’s banquet will come;
wait for the Lord’s hour.
Let us have faith;
all this will pass away
like a national nightmare,
and we shall awake to the Lord’s great feast.
Let us be filled with this hope."

Oscar Romero
October 15, 1978


See Sojourners article - "San Romero de la America"

A Word of Advice For Democrats

A Word of Advice For Democrats

At MyDD, Chris Bowers leads us to a Matt Taibbi piece where he is upset with Taibbi for insinuating that the Democrats might abandon Social Security as a trade-off for National Security credibility. Chris Bowers believes there are unnecessary divisions being created in the Democratic party by some giving themselves the unofficial moniker, "National Security Democrats". Beating the drums about a national security and foreign affairs gap, Democrats are falling into the frame-trap set by the GOP, which too often shows Democrats as soft on National Security. He claims that the press only gives the big megaphone - the interviews - to those Democrats.

Bowers says:

"....the uniting feature about the big names who joined this group seems to be that they were wrong when it came to Iraq, and that they took a position that was in contradiction to the vast majority of those people who they claim to represent."

What is the answer to this problem? If I were a Congressional Democrat who'd voted "Yes" to the 2002 Iraq resolution and I was thinking about running for President, I would cautiously watch how I chose to proceed. I believe there is a faction within the Bush administration of whom an overwhleming majority of (left-to-moderate) Democrats not only distrust, but deplore. It is the faction Sy Hersh called "a cult" and it has taken over our nation's foreign policy. The Iraq War that was promoted by this faction - known as the NeoConservatives - has caused those millions of Democratic voters to deeply distrust any Congressional Democrat who failed to adequately question the merits of the Iraq resolution and raise concerns about the people who were manipulating and interpreting the related intelligence. We now know that MI6 chief Richard Dearlove said that he had briefed Tony Blair, well before the war, that America's Iraq intelligence was "fixed" to meet the administration's goal of invading Iraq at all costs.

What any Democrat serious about running for President in 2008 should think about is to start talking about this up-front. It's their political funeral if they don't. The mainstream media does not hold the same sway that it once did with informed Democratic voters. The blogs and the internet are a new tour de force in campaigns. Grassroots Democrats are entering the political scene with a force never before witnessed in American politics.

If any Democratic presidential hopeful thinks we want to hear our candidates competing with the NeoConservatives for who's the tougher cookie, the cookie's going to crumble. The Democrats should be highly criticizing the NeoConservatives and exposing the part they played in taking our country into the most unwise elective war since Viet Nam.

It's time we heard something realistic from our Democratic presidential-hopefuls. We aren't willing to play into any fantasy when it comes to our troops and how we decide to use them. I'm sick and tired of being labeled "a fanatic" for only wanting the truth and openness from our government. Truthfulness and openness are moral values and no one - especially a Republican government of free people - should be exempt from following them.

If Congressional Democrats want our trust back, and if they want our unwavering support, they need to:

- Start talking from a new frame of reference. Stop falling into GOP-frame traps.

- Talk about the process by which we eventually went to pre-emptive war in 2003, and how that process failed miserably...and why. Name the players who deceived the American people - and how they did it. Don't be shy about it.

- Tell us it's not going to happen that way - ever again. Make that promise. Our trust in American leadership has been breached. Tell us how your plan is superior to theirs. It will sound more honest and convincing than telling us how tough you wish you were. Why are you afraid? The majority of Americans polled recently agree that this war was not worth the lives it's taken. Most want our troops home - yesterday.

Monday in Syracuse Politics/Sports

Monday In Syracuse -
Politics and Sports



Congratulations go out to the UNC Tar Heels and Michigan State Spartans for their big win(s) at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse yesterday. The two teams will meet this Saturday in St. Louis for a national semifinal game. Mike Waters of the Syracuse Post Standard has a story about the UNC Tar Heels team - three members, in particular: North Carolina seniors Jawad Williams, Melvin Scott and Jackie Manuel.

photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

There were many letters to the editor printed in the Syracuse Post Standard this morning by citizens who support the Onondaga Nation's Land Rights lawsuit. They are not available online. The lawsuit asks the federal court to declare that the Onondaga Nation is the rightful owner of a 4,000-square-mile strip of New York land from Pennsylvania to the Thousand Islands. The Post Standard's Mike McAndrew reports that tribal rivalry is playing no part in this land rights case.

Sid Hill, a tadodaho of the Onondaga Nation, believes that it is New York's strategy to split the tribes of the Six Nations up. Hill has said. "Divide and conquer. You can see the casino deals are splitting nations."

The land claim area has no precise boundaries but includes parts of 11 Upstate counties: Broome, Cortland, Cayuga, Chenango, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Onondaga, Oswego, Tioga and Tompkins. The swath of land varies in width from 10 miles to 40 miles and includes the cities of Syracuse, Binghamton, Watertown, Cortland, Fulton, and Oswego.

From the Ithaca Journal:

While other tribal land claims are being used as bargaining chips in casino negotiations, Onondaga leaders said they would use their land claim to compel the state to undertake environmental cleanup of hazardous sites in the land claim area -- specifically Onondaga Lake.

"Our concern is for the water, the land, the air. They are not well," said Sid Hill, the tribe's spiritual leader. "It is the duty of the nation's leaders to work for a healing of this land, to protect it, and to pass it on to future generations."

The Syracuse lake -- a sacred location regarded as the birthplace of the Iroquois Confederacy -- is a federal Superfund site and one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world.

In an address given by President Thomas Jefferson to the Six Nations' religious prophet Handsome Lake, one cannot wonder - if Jefferson could see the state of Onondaga Lake today - what he might think about the real consequence of "a little land well-stocked".

"A little land well stocked and improved, will yield more than a great deal without stock or improvement. I hope, therefore, that on further reflection, you will see this transaction in a more favorable light, both as it concerns the interest of your nation, and the exercise of that superintending care which I am sincerely anxious to employ for their subsistence and happiness. Go on then, brother, in the great reformation you have undertaken. Persuade our red brethren then to be sober, and to cultivate their lands; and their women to spin and weave for their families. You will soon see your women and children well fed and clothed, your men living happily in peace and plenty, and your numbers increasing from year to year. It will be a great glory to you to have been the instrument of so happy a change, and your children's children, from generation to generation, will repeat your name with love and gratitude forever. In all your enterprises for the good of your people, you may count with confidence on the aid and protection of the United States, and on the sincerity and zeal with which I am myself animated in the furthering of this humane work. You are our brethren of the same land; we wish your prosperity as brethren should do." [Link- Yale]

Oil and American pockets

Oil and American Pockets

Thomas Friedman reminds us that, by doing nothing to lower U.S. oil consumption, we are financing both sides in the war on terrorism and strengthening the worst governments in the world. Smart geopolitics means smart fiscal policy, smart climate policy, and most of all - smart politics.

Oil prices have shot up by nearly 20 percent in the past five weeks to around $54 a barrel in New York — a little more than $1 shy of all-time records. OPEC is playing games as we speak, ensuring that they, in conjunction with U.S. oil companies, will continue raping Americans at the gas pumps. At Common Ills, there is reference to an article in April's Harpers magazine by Greg Palast in which he says NeoCons were plotting the destruction of OPEC, but failed to predict the virulent resistance of the U.S. oil industry itself. Palast says that the U.S. State Department officially denied the existence of a 323-page plan drawn up by ex-U.S. oil company officials for an Iraqi state-owned oil company under which the state would maintain official title to the reserves but operation and control would be given to foreign oil companies. The OPEC-friendly policy, which allows for a continued stranglehold on the U.S economy, was driven by none other than VP Dick Cheney.

The Voice of America reports:

"What is behind the near-doubling of crude oil prices over the last two years? The period coincides with the war in Iraq, as well as unrest in oil-producers Nigeria and Venezuela. But analysts say the trend cannot be explained solely by conflict and chaos on the world stage. Rather, they point to a dramatic boost in global oil consumption in 2003 and 2004 that more than doubled the rate of increase from previous years. Manouchehr Takin, an analyst at Britain's Center for Global Energy Studies, points to one country in particular.

"Chinese growth in oil imports has been the major force behind the growth in world oil demand," he reminded.

Mr. Takin says plans by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries for expanding production capacity were based on previous assumptions of slower growth in demand. Today, only three of the cartel's 11 members - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - have the capacity to boost production to any appreciable degree."

Grandpa's Band

Grandpa's Band

My grandfather played bass with the H-Bar-C Boys in the 1940s in Central New York. He also played the violin and mandolin with an Eastern European folk flair. He refurbished musical instruments as a part-time job after he retired as an airplane mechanic. He filled our lives with music. He was also a craftsman and could work wonders with wood. I have a lovely table he crafted with beautiful designs of colorful inlaid wood. His brother Peter is listed as a famous Ukranian for his work as an aviation pioneer. His father was a Ukranian immigrant whose name rests today upon the memorial stones at Ellis Island.

This came to my mind as I searched for a site on Pysanky - Ukrainian Easter Eggs, which I used to enjoy making with my Grandparents at Easter time.

A blog shout-out to the Nagurneys-
Jane of Scranton Prep
Toby of Harvard (love to Aunt Julie).
Justine of Harvard (Don't ever let Larry Summers tell you that you can't do it).
Anna of U Mass
Still fairly newlywed Quinn of Jay Quinn Band (Keep on rocking)
Lad of U Hartford
...and so many more of you marvelous Nagurneys.
Happy Easter.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

"President Bush, who scurried back to the White House to sign emergency legislation for Terri Schiavo, has let 1,500 Americans die in someone else's revolution."

- Amy H. Peterson, citizen speaking about the president's apparent lack of faith in the resilience of the collective human spirit - the ability of a people who want freedom to affect change in a populist revolution.

art credit: Artists Forum

FBI Personally Escorted Saudis Home on 9/11

FBI Personally Escorted Saudis Home on 9/11

The Saudis were nothing special on 9/11, says an anonymous FBI official. The F.B.I. gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, and several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, documents show.
But they were no one special.
Heck, we would have done it for anybody.
Yeah. Sure.

Eli Thomas

Eli Thomas

I wanted to share one of my favorite artists with you. Art and story telling are two ways that Native Americans share their culture. Eli Thomas is one of the best interpreters of Native culture, throught his art. Eli is a member of the Wolf Clan from the Onondaga Nation where he presently resides. He studied Fine Arts at SUNY Potsdam and Studio Art at SUNY Buffalo, but he now uses a technique which he considers to be self-taught. Displayed in his artwork are the oral traditions and cultural symbols of the Onondaga Nation. If you are lucky enough to meet Eli, you will see that he is every bit as vibrant, in his storytelling, as are his paintings. He will gladly sit with you and take the time to tell you the personal stories behind his artwork.


Eli Thomas

In Spiritual Symphony by Eli Thomas, you can look for the many hidden wolves and spirits within the painting. Native American singer Joanne Shenandoah, who is his cousin, can be seen in the sky. [See Two Hawks Gallery website for an image of the painting along with others by Eli Thomas.]

You can see a good sampling of Eli's artwork, along with commentary, at this website.

John Edwards - Scheduled Travels

John Edwards - Scheduled Travels

John Edwards has a busy schedule coming up. (I'll bet he's got the NCAA game on his schedule for watching today - 2:40pm/CBS. The game between UNC and Wisconsin is being played in my own fair city of Syracuse.)

On March 30 at the US Naval Academy Stadium Club in Annapolis, John will be one of the honorees at Progressive Maryland's 2005 Awards Banquet

On March 31, John Edwards will be in Iowa for a fundraiser for Congressman Leonard Boswell, honoring his 20 years of service to his state.

He has agreed to an interview with Iowa Public Television, which will be broadcast statewide, and plans to meet with the Des Moines Register's editorial board.

On April 1st in Iowa, a "Thank You Reception With John Edwards" will be held. Everyone is invited, so please come.
Time: 2:15 P.M.
Location: Temple for the Performing Arts, Recital Hall, 4th. Floor, 1011 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Please R.S.V.P. with your name and phone number, as they are planning food, to:
InfoOAC@OneAmericaCommittee.com


April 2- John Edwards will visit the innovative Harambee Center in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, April 2. He and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz will meet privately with a small group of Harambee clients, followed by an open press availability. Later in the day, Edwards will join Cieslewicz for a private reception.

He will also speak at a Founders’ Day Gala at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee at 7:00pm.

On April 5 and 6, John Edwards will be in the Valley of the Sun (Arizona). He will keynote a health care forum sponsored by Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business.


On April 13, he will appear at Harvard's Institute of Politics.


MAY

John Edwards will deliver the keynote address during North Carolina Central University's spring commencement scheduled for 8 a.m. May 7 in O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium.

In May, he is due in Dubai address the International Entrepreneurship Forum and Exhibition - Entrepreneurs in Dubai - to be held at the Dubai International Convention Centre.

Onondaga Faithkeeper Oren Lyons Speaks to the World

Onondaga Faithkeeper Oren Lyons Speaks to the World

This week in Japan, there is a convening of a consortium of groups that study religion worldwide with members from more than 40 countries and regions. Its World Congress takes place every five years to promote international collaboration among religion scholars. The Onondaga Nation from Central New York will provide an earth-conscious message which resonates strongly with the Japanese people. According to the Syracuse Post Standard, Onondaga Nation Faithkeeper Oren Lyons will speak several times at the 19th World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions in Tokyo, including at a session about religion, education and sustainable development, sponsored by the United Nations.

From the Post Standard article:

[Faithkeeper Oren] Lyons said he plans to challenge Christian leaders at the conference. He said he will seek a response from the Roman Catholic Church in particular for what he sees as centuries of discrimination against native cultures. "I'm going to ask them why they don't recognize indigenous religions as equal to theirs," Lyons said.

Lyons blamed papal bulls, or edicts from the Vatican, for marginalizing indigenous populations. The edicts, which date to the 1700s, cleared the way for Europeans to claim indigenous lands as their own. Indigenous people have been persecuted in their homelands ever since, he said. "If you're looking for world peace, you have to start at the beginning, which is recognizing that everyone is equal," Lyons said.

Link to story: [Jillian Cohan, Syracuse Post Standard]

The panelists will focus on the Onondagas' struggle to protect their tribal lands from pollution and will explain why indigenous religions place a strong emphasis on environmental stewardship.

In 2000, part of a message delivered to the U.N. Millenium Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders included a reminder to leaders of the world that there could be no peace as we wage war upon "Our Mother, the Earth." Responsible and courageous actions must be taken to realign ourselves with the great laws of nature, the essence known as the spirit of life. This spirit encompasses the spiritual powers and the great order of the universe, believing that all life is bound by the laws of creation. Faithkeeper Lyons wished us to understand that these spiritual laws transcend generations and are vital to not only moral law, but to our very survival. He made a plea, in 2000, for sanity in leadership and responsibility to future generations.

That plea is repeated in 2005 by the current Land Rights claim brought by the Onondaga Nation against the state of New York, arguing the state wrongfully sold tribal land and polluted its environment.

The water is precious to the Onondagas. They are concerned about the state of Onondaga Lake and Onondaga Creek because of the religious and spiritual significance of those waters. There were events that occurred along those waterways which were sacred to the Haudenosaunee people. At a meeting in Syracuse this week, speakers from the Nation reached out to their neighbors and reminded us that the Creator gave us the gift of water. We are water. We are the rain. We are the stars which, from their own place in the universe, dampen the earth. What we do to the water, we do to ourselves and generations to follow.

It is painful for the Onondagas to see people in government not telling the truth and acting irresponsibly.

It is not in line with moral values for our leaders to "cover up".

Oren Lyons is sharing that message with people all over the world this week. He's educating the world about the Haudenosuanee belief system and its ties to the environment, and he hopes to dispel myths heard all too often in the Western press about Native American culture.

Hey Jude

Hey Jude

If you want to see some of my photography and favorite poems and inspirational quotes, I have a blog called Hey Jude.

I've also begun a list of links to Social Justice/Not For Profit Groups in the Syracuse area at the 'Hey Jude' site.

Onondaga Nation Files Historic Land Rights Action

Onondaga Nation Files Historic Land Rights Action
On March 11, 2005

Joe Heath, attorney for the Onondaga Nation, speaks to a group at the Westcott Community Center in Syracuse Thursday evening. Seated are Jeanne Shenandoah (l) and Tadodaho Sid Hill (r).
photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

"Our Nation looks at the ecological disaster of Onondaga Lake, the most polluted in North America, and we weep. A century of degradation caused by callous corporations and indifferent government officials has transformed the lake, the center of Onondaga way of life and culture, into a toxic pool hostile to fish, wildlife and humans alike...Corporations should not dump their waste and then take away their jobs once the land has been sufficiently defiled. Central New York was once filled with amazing amounts of natural beauty, and the Onondaga want to reclaim that beauty for everyone. It is our calling, and it is our right."

- Sidney Hill, a Tadodaho (spiritual leader) of the Onondaga Nation.
from a column in the Syracuse Post Standard March 13, 2005

There was a Neighbor-to-Neighbor/Nation to Nation meeting held tonight at the Westcott Community Center in Syracuse. Sponsored by the Syracuse Peace Council, the topic was: "Water Connects Us All". Guest speakers were Tadodaho Sid Hill and Jeanne Shenandoah of the Onondaga Nation. Special guest was Joe Heath, the Attorney who, on March 11th, filed a land rights action which is based on New York’s violation of the U.S. Constitution and the 1790 Federal Trade and Intercourse Act. The Act made it make it illegal to acquire Native American land without federal government approval. New York State supposedly acquired the Onondaga lands through a series of agreements in 1788-90, 1793, 1795, 1817, and 1822 without federal approval. The taking of the Onondaga Nation lands also violated the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix and the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua between the United States and the Six Nations or Haudenosaunee, as well as Haudenosaunee laws.

This land rights action is different from any that have been previously filed in New York State. The centerpiece of the suit is pollution and degradation of the land. The lawsuit seeks no actual monetary damages up front, and unlike other claims, there's no call for a casino or bingo hall. [link to this statement: News 10, Syracuse]

The Onondaga's relationship to the land and the water is embodied in Gayanashagowa, the Great Law of Peace. This relationship goes far beyond federal and state legal concepts of ownership, possession, or other legal rights. The people are one with the land and consider themselves stewards of it.

Tadodaho Sid Hill has said: "It is the duty of the Nation’s leaders to work for a healing of this land, to protect it, and to pass it on to future generations. The Onondaga Nation brings this action on behalf of its people in the hope that it may hasten the process of reconciliation and bring lasting justice, peace, and respect among all who inhabit this area."


I'll report on the meeting very soon here at Iddybud. Stay "tuned" (or should I say stay "linked"?)


*See Sean Kirst's column from the Syracuse Post Standard: "For tadodaho, sorrow accompanies land claim".

Steven Aftergood - Protecting Truth

"..massively important decisions about everything from war to architecture to medicine to farming--rely on a fine network of many little truths, the slight alteration of which can send people off on the most unfortunate paths."

- From Saheli's Musings and Observations

Steven Aftergood - Protecting Truth

Do you know that, since President George W. Bush entered office, the pace of classification activity has increased by 75 percent?

Saheli has a story that caught my eye. She comments that the thankless bureaucrat is "the best friend of the journalist, the historian, or the curious child who should wander into a library basement and realize that her Republic lies at her disposal." Saheli believes that, with our increasingly better tools for information organization and retrieval, we should be taking better care of it, not worse. I'm glad that Saheli has raised my awareness about the work of Steven Aftergood, whose speaking engagement she'd attended at Columbia. Aftergood impressed her with the idea that our national information is ours to access and to incorporate into our civic lives in order to benefit our Republic and its democracy. Saheli has asked us to understand and to consider supporting his cause.

Sign Petition to Defend Blog Democracy

Sign Petition to Defend Blog Democracy

Blogs are a perfect example of grass roots democracy at its best.We should not allow a law to stop the vibrant exchanges that occur throughout the blogoshpere.

A vast amount of people are participating in blogging and it makes no sense that they have to worry about violationg FEC law for speaking to someone about their opinions on politics as if they were standing on any American street corner talking to a neighbor.

It's true that the internet makes America a much smaller place than it once was. People to people, it's much easier for us to connect. That doesn't mean we should have to fear what we say might be subject to government scrutiny.

Why? Last time I checked, we were still a free country. We promote freedom throughout the world --why show the world that we disrespect the freedom of Americans right here at home?

Please sign this petition today at the One America site.

Just this much

Just this much..

A spiritual man said,
"To be truly present, all you have to remember is just this much!"

Holding his thumb and index finger apart about the length a spark might jump, just this much, just this eternal instant, just the living truth.

When memory falters, we are forced back into the living present, where life is to be lived. The past is irretrievably departed, only this morning's sun, only that love across the table.

Just this much remains.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>


inspired by Stephen Levine's Turning Toward the Mystery

Moral Values at Center of Political Discussion

Moral Values at Center of Political Discussion

Howard Dean says that Democrats can run on moral values as well as Republicans and that Democrats' programs to provide help for people reflect moral values more than Republican programs do.


John Edwards believes one of the greatest moral issues we face is the concern about leaving trillions of dollars of debt to our children, all because of President Bush's tax cuts for rich people.


Ernest Partridge has written an article titled A Master Morality, in which he states:

"Simply put, the best alternative to the “Master Morality” of Bush, Inc. is the political morality of the founding documents of our republic; the political morality that we once believed to be exemplified in our government; the political morality that the propaganda machine of Bush, Inc., is determined to convince us that we still have.

If and when the day comes that a critical mass of our fellow citizens comes to fully appreciate what has been taken from us, that will be the day that the fate of Bushism will be sealed."

It's the second time I've linked this MoJones interview with Jim Wallis of Sojourners, but it's a great example of current political discussion about moral values.


Howard Zinn fears that Democrats, in their political strategy aimed to seem less "reactionary" on abortion and gay marriage, will contribute de facto to the ideological atmosphere that will ultimately end up destroying support for the Women's Freedom to Choose and Gays' Right to Marry causes. He says:

"Let us also take a look at Democratic complicity in the outpouring of moral effluvia over abortion and gay marriage. Much ink has been wasted about the supposed emergence of “moral values” as a new reality around which Democrats must solemnly redraw their battle lines and retreat even further to the right. Anyone interested in defending the leftist position would refuse to acquiesce to the pretentious pseudo-morality undergirding Republican “values.” He or she would ask why the “culture of life” does not extend to people who are actually living, like American children and mothers in poverty, or Iraqi civilians under bombs, and why the “sanctity of marriage” is to be decided not by the actual people wanting marriage, but by the federal government.."

PHOTO

photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

Castler

Summary: John and Elizabeth Edwards' First Podcast

Summary: John and Elizabeth Edwards' First Podcast
by Jude Nagurney Camwell
As seen on American Street

John and Elizabeth Edwards' first podcast has the feel of a 1940's-era fireside chat, a la 2005.



Former North Carolina senator and VP candidate John Edwards, along with his wife Elizabeth, who recently went through surgery for breast cancer, sat at their kitchen table with podcasting equipment set out on their son Jack's blanket. Their young children Jack and Emma Claire were "held at bay" temporarily while the Edwards sang their praises of Dairy Queen Blizzards and the UNC Tarheels (and a Nevada Wolfpack sweatshirt Elizabeth has packed away 'just in case').The NCAA basketball tournament was playing on a television in the background, admitted John Edwards, although its sound could not be heard over the podcast. He began by saying that the podcasting medium itself has had a personal impact on citizens, who are now able to have their voices more widely heard.

Elizabeth reassured listeners that her surgery (10 days ago) went well and that she will soon undergo radiation treatment as planned. She said that thousands of concerned people have reached out with e-mails and snail mail and that she appreciates every one. Due to limited use of her right hand, she's been slow to respond, but hopes to be able to respond to many of the get-well wishes. She is optimistic about the future. Both she and John are working on issues of Poverty, Work, and Opportunity all around the country. If citizens have any suggestions, they are urged to write to John Edwards via the One America website. Both Elizabeth and John hope the country will focus on the issue of poverty in weeks and months to come. John had been involved with homelessness-related issues in Raleigh (Urban Ministries) long before he ran for any political office. He is enthused about his new position at UNC Chapel Hill at the law school’s new Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity.

Elizabeth stated that Education has been an issue she has long championed. She has worked with after-school programs which she says were near and dear to her heart because the programs have provided every child with the opportunity to start "on the same launch pad". She plans to continue her work on Education issues.

John Edwards stressed that this is a cause - it's a movement. This is not about politics. This is not a campaign. He wants you to get involved by sending your questions and concerns (see website).

He answered a number of questions from the public. The first dealt with our electoral system and our vote.How can we ensure that every vote is counted? John noted the problems we saw in Florida during Election 2000 and Ohio in Election 2004.

He said that we Americans are responsible for electing the leader of the free world and that there is no one more important election in this world. Any reason to DOUBT the vote here in America is an outrageous thing to have to worry about. He cited the problems with vote challengers, black box voting procedures, non-auditable voting machines - and he said there was no excuse for such a lack of electoral integrity. The President needs to make a commitment to fair, reliable elections - especially in the poorest voting districts. Partisan politicians shouldn’t be in charge of the voting process. We deserve non-partisans overseeing the best, most relaible electoral system we could possibly have.

"We need these blogging leaders to continue to speak out. We depend on them to continue this fight."

The next segment dealt with the President's plan to reform Social Security. John said he believed that one of the great moral issues of our time, with which we must deal, is the fact that we're leaving trillions of dollars of debt to our children, all because of President Bush's tax cuts for rich people. The President's Social Security ideas will drive the country deeper into debt with a plan that will not strengthen the program, in the long run. John suggested a rollback of the Bush tax cuts and using a substantial portion of that money to shore up Social Security. He stated that we simply don’t need tax cuts for the richest people in the country. He commended Kos(Daily Kos), Josh Marshall (TalkingPointsMemo.com), and ThereIsNoCrisis.com for the great work they've been doing in thoroughly covering the Social Security issue.

"We need these blogging leaders to continue to speak out," said John Edwards, "We depend on them to continue this fight."

Elizabeth spoke a bit more about blogs and bloggers. With blogs, she said, discussions that take place today, by bloggers on the internet, used to take place in a vacuum. It's not true any longer. Journalists of mainstream media are using bloggers to provoke new questions and uncover public misstatements. Politicians are held to the integrity of their statements because of concerned, informed, and attentive bloggers.

Both John and Elizabeth said they believe that a non-partisan solution of problems is recommended to save programs like Social Security and Medicare. Taking benefits away from seniors on Medicare and Social Security is dangerous. Elizabeth's father is a military veteran who served during two wars - Viet Nam and Korea. The medical care promised to him is not there. Medicare cutbacks are absolutely terrifying to senior citizens. Many strip themselves of their lifelong savings and assets to go into Medicaid because Medicare has failed them. Prideful people who feel that they’ve done the right thing all their lives, our Senior citizens expect the benefits they were promised, if they contributed. They see Social Security and Medicare as something they've worked hard for - and earned. The Edwards wish to work to stengthen these programs on behalf of our aging citizens.

There was a question from a young man named Tony, age 15— He wished to know how to keep young people involved and interested in political issues after a presidential election has passed.

John Edwards said that, over next four years, we (Democrats) need to be out visiting every part of country. Not just before elections. Starting now. Republicans are good at reaching out. He says that Democrats are capable of beating them by reaching out to people now. Young folks can get involved in the process by fighting poverty, which is what John’s campaign is all about. The Edwards' daughter Cate has gotten involved with a brand new organization called "Generation Engaged", which is a group where young people can connect and understand the importance of politics everyday - not just around election time.

The next question dealt with FEC restrictions on bloggers:
John Edwards said that blogs have played an enormous role in grass roots democracy and freedom. Blogs are a great medium and avenue for people to express themselves and their opinions. He does not wish to do harm to the GOOD that’s occurring now through blogging. If campaigns are paying bloggers (as is being carefully examined in the South Dakota 2004 election), there may be a realistic conflict of interest. Yet, we cannot stop the vibrant exchanges that occur throughout the blogoshpere. A vast amount of people are participating and shouldn’t have to worry about violationg FEC law. Blogs are a perfect example of grass roots democracy at its best.

Elizabeth added that she thinks it's silly for the FEC to come in and attempt to cut the flow of free speech through threats of fines. She likened it to the FEC regulating a conversation on a STREET corner! She says we cannot allow democracy to be stifled. Bloggers are generally the people who are most informed and who set a direction for public conversation. She said we don’t need to analyze blogs in terms of them being like the press. She praised the White House for giving a recent press pass to a blogger – she's glad to see blogs getting the respect they deserve. Yet, she said, we don’t need to compare blogs to journalism. Blogs should be considered to be a form of free expression of opinion, protected by the 1st amendment and should not be regulated by FEC.

On ANWR: John Edwards said he was against the latest bill passed by the Senate. He added that the Senate vote was a great disappointment to him. It did little to reduce our dependence upon oil. Alternative resources need to be researched and developed.

president2008

Go, Man, Go!

Go, Man, Go!
A Wednesday Groove

Hear John Edwards' Podcast - NOW!

Hear John Edwards' Podcast - NOW!

John Edwards Podcast - March 23

UPDATE:

The first John (and Elizabeth) Edwards Podcast is ready for you to hear.
Go to this address and download the MP3.

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

The "Today Show" will profile Senator Edwards and his work on poverty on Wednesday, March 23, 2005. Check your local listings and tune in!
______________

Wednesday, March 23, 2005
By David Ingram
JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU
John Edwards leads panel of experts on poverty at UNC-CH
Discussion on wealth accumulation bolstered by former senator, vice-presidential candidate in new role

_____________




On Wednesday, March 23, the One America Committee Web site will post John Edwards' first podcast. We hear that he will have a very special guest.

From the "One America For All of Us" Blog:

This week, March 23rd, John Edwards will participate in an exciting new medium: podcasting. He will answer your questions and update you on his family and projects.

What is podcasting? It starts with an MP3 file that will play on your computer or portable music player - but it acts like a subscription. This means you are alerted when there is a new podcast available - and you are always kept up-to-date!

How do I get started? Download free software for your Mac or PC at iPodder.org. Then check back here at One America: next week we will provide a link to download John Edwards' podcast!

Do you have a question for John Edwards? Click here to e-mail your question!


SUBSCRIBE TO THIS FEED:
http://www.oneamericacommittee.com/
podcast.xml

More about Podcasting:

See PODCASTING 101 at The One America website

______________

John Edwards would like to hear your ideas::

Today, at the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I am going to join a group of prominent experts from across the country who have dedicated their careers to fighting poverty. We are going to talk about one of the most important things we can do to help lift people out of poverty and into the middle class - helping people save so that they can start getting ahead instead of just getting by.

While poverty is all around us, the first step in eradicating it is to shine a bright light on it. Here's what we know: 36 million Americans live in poverty today, which is 13 million more than 30 years ago. About one in four working families is earning so little they struggle to make ends meet. And nearly 30 percent of families have less than $10,000 in assets - which means that the value of their savings, their home, and their car altogether is less than $10,000.

What we can do as a country is help families build a foundation and a safety net so that if they have a medical emergency, lose a job, or go through a traumatic event like a divorce it doesn't push them off the cliff and into bankruptcy.

So today we are going to talk about how we can help families save and put money in the bank. We will explore ideas like establishing savings accounts for children at birth, like baby bonds, to help them prepare for the future. We'll also look at different types of savings accounts for adults with matching funds to encourage people to save. And we will take a close look at ways to help more families become homeowners while also making sure that predatory lenders don't take away homes families already own.

These are some of the many ideas that we will discuss. We will report back on our blog but please let me know what you think we can do to help people save. Please visit the One America Committee Blog where we have started a new thread entitled: Poverty, Work, and Opportunity and give us your thoughts and ideas about this important issue. Some of our best ideas will come from you! Your input is invaluable, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Podcasting Info *thanks to Amy Gahran:

- What is podcasting and why should you care?
- How to receive and listen to podcasts
- What are feeds (RSS) and why should you care?


Podcasting News on John Edwards

Iddybud Thanks You

Iddybud Thanks You

I'd like to thank Common Ills and Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude for their recent comments and links.

From Common Ills:

"...isn't jude a groovy blogger? she's a woman and we're supposedly wondering where the female bloggers are so why doesn't she get more attention for all her hard work? or is that all 'so last week' already?"

From Sex and Politics, Screeds and Attitude:

"Jude of Iddybud has written an incredible entry on what's going on in Ohio today. It's entitled "Your Vote: Worthless in the Eyes of Media - Judging from the lack of news media coverage, you probably haven't heard about today's House Committee hearing." This puts the entire thing into perspective (no relying on implications or allusions I did). Again, please read the entire thing. (Though judging by the e-mails a lot of members already have Maria gets credit for being the first one to e-mail on it.)

there's your iddybud link.

Jude took on the issue, BuzzFlash is noting it and Ron of Why Are We Back In Iraq? is also addressing it providing background on why Kenneth Blackwell was 'too busy' to testify last time. (No, Ron's not justifying Blackwell's thumbing his nose at the Congress and the people.) From his entry entitled "Did Anyone Hear About The Hearing In Ohio?"

___________


These comments mean a lot to me. It's so good to know I'm not alone in this venture...this search for the truth in a labyrinth of mysterious-yet-blatant media ommissions.

I wrote to U.S. Rep Stephanie Tubbs Jones today to thank her for all the hard work she's done. I would imagine (from experience) that it all seems like a terribly thankless job to her, considering the fact that we're the only ones who seem to give a crap about all she's tried to accomplish.

By the way, Maria deserves the credit she's gotten at Common Ills on this story.

_____________

I thought this would be a fitting place to provide a link to Jeff Sharlet's (The Revealer's) latest entry - The Media Do Suck (Why The Heathen Rage) - Journalism, Democracy, and the Greatness of America's #1 Celebrity Weekly News Magazine

Excerpt:

"...my guide to understanding what myth, journalism, and democracy actually do -- is "bali to," a Papua New Guinean linguistic convention described by anthropologist Steven Feld in Sound and Sentiment as "turned over words," language that "encompasses aspects of analogy, metaphor, euphemisim, litotes, irony, and sarcasm" -- and that's just for starters. "Turned over words" are like a pretty stone you turn over in your hand; those with eyes to see discover that the other side of the rock reveals new meanings; turn it again, and there's another. Minogue celebrates this kind of perception in "religious people, philosophers, [and] scientists," those whom he defines as "genuinely educated." Such people "will find new things in quite exiguous materials"; but then, sooner or later everyone will. That's the problem with those damn words: They keep turning over. Myth, journalism, and democracy are all notoriously unstable, as is religion, a kinship across ways of knowing and living that will as often as not lead to unanticipated and undesirable outcomes."

Charlotte Bloggercon Slated for September 17, 2005

Charlotte Bloggercon Slated for September 17, 2005



According to the Trade Street Journal, Charlotte, North Carolina will host a regional blogger conference on September 17, 2005.

According to Dave Beckwith of Parker Web Developers:

"Small-business blogging will be given more attention, since there has been a veritable revolution in business blogging, much of which is so new as to have been impossible to cover during previous conferences."

*Dave is also my co-blogger here at Iddybud.

Conference: Examining Agenda of the Religious Far Right

"Until progressives come to understand what [fundamentalists] read, hear, are told and deeply believe, we cannot understand American politics, much less be effective."

- Joe Bageant

Conference: Examining the Agenda of the Religious Far Right
April 29-30

There will be a two-day conference co-sponsored by the NY Open Center and CUNY Graduate Center Public Programs, to be held at CUNY Graduate Center (Fifth Ave & 34th St, Manhattan) on April 29 and 30.

The conference, called Examining the Real Agenda of the Religious Far Right, will include some of my favorite political activists.

Speakers: Karen Armstrong, Joan Bokaer, Chip Berlet, Katherine Yurica, John Sugg, Hugh Urban, Frederick Clarkson, Jeffrey Sharlet, Skipp Porteous, Charles Strozier, Robert W. Edgar, and Joseph C. Hough Jr.
(presenter bios here)


Susan at Suburban Guerilla has a blog-post about a Mo-Jones interview with Jim Wallis (of Sojourners).

Betsy Cronkite

"They had a great relationship, a partnership in the real sense of the word."

- Kay Barnes, Mayor of Kansas City, cousin of Walter Cronkite, speaking of Walter and his wife Betsy

Betsy Cronkite

Kevin Hoffman did a very nice job on this article about Betsy (Mary Elizabeth) Cronkite, the beloved wife of Walter Cronkite. Last week, Betsy died after a long struggle with cancer. Walter and Betsy would have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary later this month

My thoughts and prayers go out to Walter and his family.

Arrogant Blackwell Refuses to Admit Ohio Mistakes

Blackwell Gives the Finger to Concerned Voters
......but he won't give U.S. Congresswoman his hand to shake.

Yesterday, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell appeared before a Congressional field committee and had the audacity to state, simply, that "everything went smoothly" in the Ohio election last November.

He called citizens' concerns - your concerns and mine - "fabrications and exaggerations". He even jabbed at people like me, who are talking about him on this blog. (Read the linked Toledo Blade story by Jim Provance).

I guess he cannot take criticism in a constructive or non-defensive manner. Regardless, I don't see how he thinks he can just sweep all these concerns away with his horrid accusations, arrogant insults, and closing his eyes and pretending the problems aren't there. Unless we allow him to do so.


"What you don't want to hear, or what you are not hearing, is that Ohio..had one of the best election administration performances in the country." said J. Kenneth Blackwell.

U.S. Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D., CA.), countered: "Irrespective of that, there have been allegations put out there. Again, you don't want to hear that, but they're out there."

According to U.S. Rep Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D., OH.), the arrogant Blackwell refused to shake her hand outside the committee room.

The divisive Blackwell is going to run for Governor in Ohio. The cause for his rise to national prominence? Delivering Ohio to George W. Bush, thus hijacking the election.

In January, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who prepared a report on election problems in Ohio, said that an improper fund-raising letter for Blackwell's gubernatorial run supports suspicions that Blackwell's actions as secretary of state during the election "stemmed from partisan political motivations" to help Bush.

Funny Photo

"Mini-Me" Tumor Appears on President's Head

"Just how's he gonna manage, lugging that extra dome around?" a bystander was reported to have asked.

Originalism

"More improbable than unique..".
Originalism has some incredible photography and prose.

I saw a joke I liked at the blog - from the Edinburgh festival:

"I joined a dating agency and went out on a load of dates that didn't work out. And I went back to the woman who ran the agency and said: "Have you not got somebody on your books who doesn't care about how I look or what job I have and has a nice big pair of boobs?" And she checked on her computer and said: "Actually, we have one, but unfortunately, it's you."

N.Z. Bear To Wed

N.Z. Bear To Wed



Sorry, girls. He'll soon be out of the running. N. Z. Bear is getting married. He's also known as Truth Laid Bear, owner of the Ecosystem. I'm very happy to hear the good news about Bear and his Lady M.
Here's wishing the best of luck and love to them both.

Brandenn

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."

- Marcus Aurelius

Brandenn

There are some things that make me profoundly sad.
This is one of them.

Ted Honderich: The Principle of Humanity

Ted Honderich: The Principle of Humanity

I've been reading a book on free will and determinism by Ted Honderich. A fascinating philosopher, Honderich speaks of the series of causal lines which create our life narratives. I've been thinking about one particular point he made. He says that your own inner world, it can be argued, is no less "real" than the perceived part of the physical world. If the latter is not to be made into "mysterious stuff in the head" by its dependence on PERSONS generally, then why should your world of perceptual consciousness be degraded into such stuff by its dependency upon YOU?

While it seems that some people are "living in their own head", it's far too easy to consider them anti-social eccentrics (some call them 'geeks'). Think about the wisdom they could impart, by their (admitted) hyper-dependence upon their own neural system versus reliance upon persons, generally. Who are we to judge which is of more value - to that individual and what could be of value to the physical world by that person's very neural existence?

Since I cannot send you the entirety of his rather complex book "How Free Are You?", I thought I would share an online paper of Professor Honderich's, which is a politics-related philosophy. In it, he provides us with 10 observations about familiar principles, rules, maxims, and propositions mentioning equality, of which he says are reflective of "ordinary enlightened convictions and feelings."

He says:

The fundamental question to which liberalism, conservatism and other such things give answers - or should give answers - and arguments for the answers, is sometimes called the question of justice. It is the question not of what laws there are, but of what laws there ought to be, how societies ought to be. Better, it is the question of who ought to have what.
An answer needs first to decide on a prior question. Of what ought who to have what shares or amounts? My answers are given in this paper.

The first, to the prior question, has to do with our great desires, and the wretchedness or other distress of having them unfulfilled. Other answers have to do with bad answers to the main question, and then the right one. Morality has a majesty. Despite ourselves, and yet to ourselves, it stands over the rest of our existence, in particular over our self-interest in its various forms.

To my mind it is the Principle of Humanity above all that has that majesty.

Happy reading, should you decide to take the dive into Honderich's world of ideas.

______________

Other recent references from the reality-based philosopher:
Counterpunch- On Being Persona Non Grata

The Need for a New Disrespect:

"Murdoch of The Sun in England [and FOX News] has a thousand or ten thousand times greater control over the alternatives scheduled for debate and decision in a national election than you do. He is about that much more free to get what he wants for himself and the people with whom he identifies. You can safely say that they, some millions of them, are at least 100 times freer than the rest of us."

Iraq - The 2nd Anniversary from Azania's View

Iraq - The 2nd Anniversary from Azania's View

Helioith has a downloadable MP3 of a radio broadcast by Azania Al-Shabazz, a 6th grader at Crossroads Middle School in Harlem, New York. As part of the Radio Roots series, this particular segment deals with the child's own thoughts and the thoughts of his community members about the war in Iraq and its affect upon the community.

Archy's Liberal Coalition Blogsketches

Archy's Liberal Coalition Blogsketches

Hmmmm- just what does an Iddybud and a Scrutiny Hooligan look like?
Check out some of John's groovy blogger-sketches.

Stribley on Quashie

- from the O.J.Simpson Coloring and Activity book, downloadable here.

Stribley on Quashie

At Hitched to Everything, Robert Stribley talks about meeting artists Colin Quashie and Colbert Mashile at Charlotte's McColl Center for Visual Art.

Your Vote: Worthless in the Eyes of Media

Your Vote:
Worthless in the
Eyes of Media
Judging from the lack of news media coverage, you probably haven't heard about today's House Committee hearing


"There's reason to suspect that our 2004 election was stolen."

That's a strong accusation. Daring to utter such a statement has gained citizens little more than a label of "paranoid conspiracy theorist". The news media has shied away from talking about it, apparently afraid to be seen as "liberal media" and having a massive advertising-boycott campaign mounted against them by right-wing activists.

In January, Senator Barbara Boxer (D CA) stood up to vote against the certification of the Ohio Electors. In the House, Republican Representatives accused her of aiding terrorism and betraying our troops in Iraq.

Recent developments will show you that this is not a matter which revolves around delusion, nor does it indicate antiAmericanism.

A House Administration Committee field hearing will be held today in Columbus, Ohio. You can access information about it online: "Committee to Continue Oversight on Election Reform with a Field Hearing in Ohio on Monday."

The committee is chaired by Rep. Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio. I have my doubts about the progress that will be made by this committee, having already read Rep. Ney's comments about the 2004 election:

“Despite the formidable challenges faced by election administrators and notwithstanding the predictions of the skeptics, the 2004 election was a tremendous success and there is growing evidence that this was due in large part to the bipartisan Help America Vote Act. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the demise of the American election system were greatly exaggerated and those who still continue to insist otherwise are not only wrong on the facts, but their baseless criticisms are a disservice to the thousands of state and local election workers who did a very good job.."

There are currently TWO (2) stories about the Congressional field hearing available on Google search.

It would appear, if you look at the media coverage, that no one cares about the integrity of our electoral process. Yet, I know that is not true. In an Annenberg poll taken on election eve, only 62% of voters felt that they could trust the integrity of the process. (*And voters committed to Bush were far more confident).

When - and why - did news-reporting about the fight for the right to vote leave the forefront?

At Daily Kos, a diarist named 'Freedom' has said that all the problems we see in America and the world today will mean "NOTHING if, come next election, the people are not given the means to exercise their right to vote."

At the Common Ills blog, there is disappointment and frustration at the lack of media and blog coverage. They report that electiononline.org was one of the only online information outlets that cited the hearing in an Associated Press story in yesterday's New York Times ("Counting of 2004 Provisional Ballots Varied Widely, Study Finds").

I think it's high time we started talking about this. We need to pressure the news media to talk about it as if it means something - because it means everything.

As it just so happens, the front pages of most of today's newspapers are slathered with heartstring-twanging news about Terry Schiavo and the fight to save what little life she has left in her. Meanwhile, the life of our democracy is nearly as fragile and brain-dead as Mrs. Schiavo. I cannot help but think this is a very convenient way for the mainstream news editors to avoid giving too loud of a voice on news that is material to our most important right as citizens - the right for our voice to be heard through our vote in elections we can trust.

The media's negligence allows people like Ohio's Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to virtually thumb his nose at concerned citizens. In the recent past, Blackwell
- has refused to be deposed about the Ohio election,
- has refused to appear before Congress ( Lawmakers were frustrated with Blackwell when he did not attend a Feb. 9 hearing in Washington, especially when they discovered that he was in the area that day)
- has refused to answer questions from members of the House Judiciary Committee who have been investigating allegations of election fraud.

Even today, Blackwell is expected to defend Ohio's electoral process and try to slink away with nothing more than a simple accusation of partisanship.

From the Beacon Journal:

A report prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Judiciary Committee accused Ohio election officials of disenfranchising minority and Democratic voters by misallocating voting machines in their districts and restricting the use of provisional ballots. Blackwell's order that registrations must be on a certain weight of paper also drew fire in the staff report.

Blackwell has denied the staff's allegations.

"It was a stunning and disgraceful display demonstrating that there are those in Congress who are very willing to cast aside the Constitution and the lawfully certified vote of the people to wage a nasty and disingenuous partisan attack," Blackwell said in his testimony.

Political writer Christopher Hitchens has a new article in Vanity Fair entitled "Ohio's Odd Numbers." The lead-in states

"No conspiracy theorist, and no fan of John Kerry's, the author nevertheless found the Ohio polling results impossible to swallow: Given what happened in that key state on Election Day 2004, both democracy and common sense cry out for a court-ordered inspection of its new voting machines."

Hitchens forwards the belief that the thinking-caps Democrats have been wearing are not composed of "tin foil":

"..there is one soothing explanation that I don’t trust anymore. It was often said, in reply to charges of vote tampering, that it would have had to be “a conspiracy so immense” as to involve a dangerously large number of people. Indeed, some Ohio Democrats themselves laughed off some of the charges, saying that they too would have had to have been part of the plan. The stakes here are very high: one defector or turncoat with hard evidence could send the principals to jail forever and permanently discredit the party that had engaged in fraud.

I had the chance to spend quality time with someone who came to me well recommended, who did not believe that fraud had yet actually been demonstrated, whose background was in the manufacture of the machines, and who wanted to be anonymous. It certainly could be done, she said, and only a very, very few people would have to be “in on it.”

Some additional background information and news:


Twenty three House members have endorsed a vote-tabulation devistiture campaign known as the Velvet Revolution. The House members signed on to Waters/Conyers' letter to voting machine companies, which have been given until April 15th to reply. Members vow to withhold HAVA funding from companies who do not comply with standards set forth in the campaign. Click here for list of signers, the full letter to the voting companies, and a letter to VR from John Conyers. Brad Friedman, founder of the campaign, says that he expects to gain support from some "big names" in the Senate.

Last week, David Cobb, who was the presidential candidate for the Green party, sent a letter to the voting machine companies of America, formally endorsing the Velvet Revolution's campaign. Mr. Cobb's attorneys, along with Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, have jointly requested a Ohio election recount. The case is still pending in the Eastern Division of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, before Judge Sargus.

John Kerry and John Edwards, through their Ohio attorney, have filed a one sentence statement with the Judge which supports the Cobb and Badnarik position. John Kerry's attorney has also filed a short, two page summary charting inconsistencies observed by Democratic Party witnesses to the recount.

Additional information about the recount and the entire 102 page report by the House Judiciary Committee's Democratic staff can be found at http://www.votecobb.org.

When four attorneys in Ohio sued that state to discover details of how voting was conducted in that state, they report they were slapped with a massive and expensive lawsuit engineered by Ohio's Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell (also co-chair of the Ohio Bush For President campaign) and Ohio Attorney General, Republican Jim Petro. The Ohio lawyer/activists have launched a legal defense fund (information available at http://freepress.org/store.php#donate) to help them fight both for an exposé of Ohio irregularities and to defend themselves against this attack by the Republican officials who control the voting systems in that state.



There's logic and reason behind the suspicion that our election was hijacked again in 2004


Sometimes it seems like we're living in a world I like to call Bushworld - a topsy-turvy rightwing-heavy universe where everything that truly matters is given the lowest priority. Our elections mean everything to the survival of our republican democracy. The Washington Times has given a big megaphone to Ferrell Blount, Republican North Carolina state chairman, who is whining about John Edwards getting some free "visibility" at Chapel Hill, but stop a moment to listen to their deafening silence about John Edwards' "media-invisiblity" in relation to today's Congressional Committee investigation about the state of the American electoral process.

"There's reason to suspect that our 2004 election was stolen."

This is our trust in the right to vote we're talking about, people.

Our one and only vote.

Pay attention to what's happening today in Columbus, Ohio.


- Jude

On my CD player this afternoon

On my CD player this afternoon

Karsh Kale - Realize

Loreena McKennitt - Live in Paris

Jim Lauderdale with Donna the Buffalo - Wait 'Til Spring


I can't wait for the next
Grass Roots Festival in Ithaca
Hope you'll join me.
I'm sure some EcoFolk will be there.

Steve Earle - The Revolution Starts Now

Planet Chant - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Lama Gyurme, Choying Drolma, Angelite (The Bulgarian Voices), Russian State Symphony, Saraband

Paul Hillier/His Majesty's Clerkes - Ghoostly Psalmes/Anglo American Psalmody

Kronos Quartet - Mugam Sayagi/Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh

Eleni Karaindrou - Euripedes / Trojan Women

Push Stars - Meet Me At the Fair


Push Stars and are friends
Hear part of one of my favorite Push Star songs, "Freedom".


Oops - can't forget Scott Leslie

Push Stars will be at Nietzsche's in Buffalo on April 13.

I will be listening to Larry Hoyt's Common Threads from 2-5 on WAER Jazz 88 in Syracuse.

A calendar of upcoming concerts in the Syracuse/Central NY area are here.

The F-Word: Examining Our Nation's Character

The F-Word: Examining Our Nation's Character

Take a look at this video and think about it.

*Thanks to Hamilton for this referral

Blog fever is spreading

Blog fever is spreading

I've recently heard and read a lot about people who are getting bored with mainstream media stories about blogging. While I sympathize, I think it's important to realize that most people out there haven't even heard of blogs and the fever is just catching on out there in America.


Where's Kevin?

Freelance journalist/blogger Kevin Sites has been mentioned by young bloggers as an inspiration. I've been wondering where he's been lately. He did a fantastic blog-story about post-Tsunami Banda Aceh, and he hasn't blogged since then. Come back, Kevin! We miss you. Congratulations are overdue to Kevin for his recent Rave's Best New Blogger Award from Wired magazine.

Dave Winer on Blogging

photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

Journalists, Step Inside!
The Blog-gospel According to Dave


Dave Winer on Blogging

There was a conference on Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility, which was held in late January at Harvard. It featured an invitation-only group of fifty journalists, bloggers, news executives, media scholars and librarians.

Dave Winer , who was in attendance, makes blogging sound a bit like an evangelist's tent meeting. I think that's a pretty accurate description, if you understand the zeal of the committed blogger.

We're going to change the world, you know.

Here are Dave's words:

"If you want to understand the blogger mentality, think of us as evangelists. We're zealots. We want to bring you in. We want you to use our tools. We want you to learn what we have learned and then make the world a better place. We are the idealists. We are into, you know, truth and justice and so forth. We have a passion for news, and maybe that can act as a reminder to the professionals that somewhere deep inside of your core is that same passion. That's the thing that unites us. That's the bond that we share. Rather than looking at it as an adversarial relationship, let's look at the ways we can help each other, because God knows we have much bigger problems to solve."

- From an article by Rebecca MacKinnon at The Nation, March 17, 2005

*Sorry to hear Rebecca has the flu. Heal, Rebecca!

Photo - Art

photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell


"In our life there is a single color, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love."

- Marc Chagall

Unhappy Anniversary

Iraq: Unhappy Anniversary
Worldwide protests
Fog of War
Fayetteville
Drain
Brian
shh

$2500 Buys An Iraqi Civilian Unjustly Killed

"Two thousand five hundred dollars," said a relative of the deceased Mr Dulaimi derisively. "Twenty-five million would not pay for a hair of his head. I have experience in fighting, and my friends have offered to fight with me. God willing, we will make an example of them."

Blood Money - $2500 Buys An Iraqi Civilian Unjustly Killed Under Current Rules of Engagement

Jimmy Massey's story is given factual support in a March 18 Financial Times report.

Link: Shoot first, pay later culture pervades Iraq by Awadh al-Taee and Steve Negus

Read what happened to Abd al-Naser Abbas al-Dulaimi and his family.

What if he'd been your son?
Your brother?

Is it time for a rethink by US commanders of their rules of engagement in Iraq?