Hope and Forgiveness: Politics & Religion

___"...if you believe "God doesn’t put any more on us than we can handle", but lately you’ve beginning to scratch your head and wonder, I’ve got some advice for you..."

Hope and Forgiveness: Politics & Religion

I want you to take a few moments to read this sermon about hope that was delivered by Rev. Chris Ayers of the Wedgewood Church in Charlotte, N.C. Rev. John Dear S.J., a Jesuit priest, theologian, peace activist, writer and speaker, appeared at a talk sponsored by Wedgewood and Belmont's Queen of The Apostles Catholic Church on Friday evening. He spoke on the topic of "The Road to Peace". (A current interview with Rev. Dear is at his website and will be published in US Catholic May 2005).

I am seeing more and more inter-religious activity to bring about social justice and this ties in with my blogpost about "hope", as well as "forgiveness". Queen of the Apostles has asked their Parish members: What can we do to bring PEACE to our world? One fairly recent suggestion has been a 'Prayer Vigil for Peace' at the Islamic Society of Gastonia,N.C. Representatives from Queen of Apostles were part of an inter-religious effort to protest the pre-emptive action in Iraq in 2003.

Another former Gastonian, Rev. Dr. Donald W. Shriver Jr. (Presbyterian), who graduated from Davidson College and Yale University Divinity School and earned a Ph.D. in religion and society at Harvard University, has said that "the test of social Justice is whether, despite profound differences, life-together triumphs over death-together - and that it is time for all three of the Abrahamic religions to reject the idea of killing in the name of God."

Shriver has also dared to speak, in the light of empathy between hostile groups and forgiveness, about the dehumanization of people who are classified as our nation's "enemies. Speaking about 9/11, he said, regarding the question on everyone's mind (mostly kept to themselves for a long period of time for fear of seeming unpatriotic):

"Why did they do that to us?"

Rev. Dr. Shriver has said:

"Patience to that question was in low repute after 9/11 in this country. The few citizens who asked for understanding of suicidal bombers got accused of excusing the crimes. One has to ask whether politically enacted suffering closes or opens the door to international empathy. Why does suffering imprison some people away from other people’s suffering, whereas for others, suffering opens the door to empathy with other peoples?" - LINK

Shriver believes that only in religion could we find the strong argument for forgiveness in politics. He challenges Christian churches to add prayers for the Iraqi citizens who die in much higher proportionate numbers than our own citizens. Who could argue that a "man (or woman) of the cloth" is not better able, in our society, to set these challenges than the secular citizen who is held suspect as unpatriotic when he or she sets the same challenges? Rev. Shriver has referred to philosopher Hannah Arendt, who has proposed a reckoning with the past that is a secular equivalent of forgiveness. Politicians who tell their constituents to forget about the past are asking some to forget pain and others to forget guilt. Yet, traumatic pain and guilt plant a time bomb in both the human psyche and political history. We found that out on 9/11. In an article titled "Bridging the Abyss of Revenge", Rev. Dr. Shriver has said:

"Until leaders, citizens and institutions do something about this past, their present and future relations are likely to be corrupted by undercurrents of hostility. As William Faulkner put it, men have "learned how to forget quick what they ain' t brave enough to try to cure." "Remember and repent" and "remember and forgive" are better mottoes for the restoration of political health than "Forgive and forget." - LINK

Don't forget to read that sermon about hope. We need all the hope we can get these days.

_________

"Why aren't more Christians pacifists? I would call it idolatry. We really don't believe in the God of peace, the God who is going to protect us. Instead, we think that the government and these weapons will do that." - Rev. John Dear, S.J.

John Edwards: Second Podcast Soon

Second Podcast: John and Elizabeth Edwards Want Your Questions

In a message from John Edwards which has been posted to the One America website, we learn that a second Podcast is forthcoming. (Next week).

John Edwards says:

"Please remember to submit your questions for our podcast next week. Elizabeth and I look forward to hearing from you. I'll write more soon."

Questions can be sent here.
Don't be shy!
What issues are important to you?
What questions do you have for John and/or Elizabeth Edwards?

____________

From a recent Moviehole interview with TV/Film star Ashton Kutcher:

Q: DID YOU ACTUALLY GET PUNK'D BY JOHN EDWARDS?

KUTCHER: Well, it was sort of a Punk, but it sort of wasn't because it was real. I was campaigning in Minnesota and we were flying back to Iowa I think to do another thing. I was riding on his like Air Force One jet that they have with all the press in the back of the plane and John has his cushy area in front and the secret service is there. We were getting off of the plane and it was very, very strict with luggage checks and things, and they were actually checking luggage on the tarmac. And one of the secret service guys goes, 'Go ahead.' So I get on the plane and one of the secret service guys comes up to me and says, 'Is that your grey bag out there?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Is there any need for you to be carrying a firearm?' I said, 'No.' I'm immediately began going, 'I was speaking at an engagement and so I haven't had my bag.' He said, 'Well, you weren't hunting or anything like that?' I said, 'Why would I be hunting?!' He said, 'Well, we're going to have to detonate your bag on the runway.' I was like, 'Are you kidding?' I was like, 'Detonate it! I'm not trying to kill anyone, I promise. Detonate it. Do it! Please. I don't want it on the plane either.' Then they were like, 'You just got Punk'd.' I was like, 'That's not even fair. You're like actual Secret Service. You're not an actor. That doesn't count.' But they had a video camera taping it from the press place in the back. I'm trying to confiscate the videotape."

Syracuse Women Poets Read at CNY NOW Event at Delavan Center Gallery

Syracuse Women Poets Read at CNY NOW Event at Delavan Center Gallery

Poets, top to bottom; left to right: Georgia A. Popoff, Mary McLaughlin Slechta, Linda Tomol Pennisi, and Janine DeBaise (bottom)
photos by Jude Nagurney Camwell

NOW CNY/Syracuse -
Celebrate April With Poetry

The famous poet T.S.Eliot called April the "cruelest month". Since April is now poetry month, Eliot, were he still alive, might change his mind. What better time to have celebrated both women and poetry? CNY NOW presented four outstanding women poets reading their works about women last Thursday in the Delevan Center Gallery in Syracuse.

Georgia Popoff is a community poet, performer, educator, spoken word producer, and senior editor of The Comstock Review. A teaching poet in schools and the community, including the Downtown Writer's Center, the Syracuse chapter of the YMCA's national Writers' Voice program, she has appeared in numerous journals, anthologies, and web publications. Collections include Coaxing Nectar from Longing (Hale Mary Press, 1997), and Gold: The Greatest Hits 1998-2003 (Pudding House Press chapbook series). Georgia is also coordinator for Partners for Arts Education and a board member of the Association of Teaching Artists.

Mary McLaughlin Slechta's short fiction and poetry have appeared in many fine journals and anthologies. Buried Bones, a chapbook of poems, came out in 2004 by Foothills Publishing. She is a teacher and an associate editor with The Comstock Review.

Linda Tomol Pennisi lives in Syracuse where she teaches in the Creative Writing program at LeMoyne College. Her poems have appeared in journals such as The Evansville Review, Prarie Schooner, Bellingham Review, and many others. "Seamless", a collection of her poetry, came out in 2003. A former nurse, she earned her MFA in Writing from Vermont College. She received resounding applause after reading "Red Running Through It", a poem deeply rooted in the female experience, which can be read, in part, here.

Janine DeBaise teaches writing and literature at SUNY College of Forestry. Her poems have appeared in various literary journals. "Of A Feather, a collection of her poetry, came out in 2003. Here academic interests include ecofeminism, ecocriticism, and the intersection of science and literature. One of the poems she read was "Woven", which can be seen here.

Delavan Art Gallery, Syracuse, N.Y.
photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

The Delavan Art Gallery is designed to be a highly flexible space with movable wall surfaces and excellent track lighting. It is an art sales facility that features the fine art of area artists in its best possible setting. The 3800 square feet of exhibit space is large enough to accommodate several uses at the same time. One of their selection criterion is geographic. For the time being they are limiting most of the work shown there to that produced by artists who live or work in Onondaga and surrounding counties. There are many fine artists in this area who have needed an appropriate setting for their work, and they seek, along with other galleries, to help fill that need. Currently, artwork by Ruth Wynn, Amy Haven, and Jamie Ashlaw are being showcased.

Syracuse-Benefit for The Redhouse

In Syracuse - A Benefit for The Redhouse -

Songwriters Night at The Redhouse
Saturday, April 16 8 p.m.

featuring:

- Syracuse Area Music Award winner John Cadley of the Lost Boys
- Syracuse Area Music Award-nominated Songwriter Dana "Short Order" Cooke
- Songwriter Scott Allyn, with vocalist Laura Austin
- Folksinger/songwriter Larry Hoyt

As one devoted music fan recently observed, "Songwriters share their souls."If that is the case, then four diverse songwriting talents will be sharing a lot of their soulfulness during the Songwriters' Night at The Redhouse, at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Admission costs $10 for this benefit concert for The Redhouse, downtown Syracuse's new multi-purpose arts facility.

Performing in a round-robin format will be John Cadley, Sammy Award-winning songwriter, vocalist and guitarist for the Lost Boys, whose two CDs, "Middle of Nowhere" and "Black Dog," have garnered outstanding positive reviews. Cadley's observant originals range from the pretty ("Could This Be Love?") to the powerful ("To a Friend in Trouble") to the haunting ("Mist of Memory") and the melancholy ("Time").

Likewise singer/songwriter Dana "Short Order" Cooke, whose three CDs, "Wildman," "County Fair" and "Snowball's Chance," are filled with clever, original songs that reflect Cooke's sarcastic wit. Performing with Cooke will be banjo-ist and vocalist Joe Cleveland, aka "His Band Joe". For more info regarding Dana Cooke, his music, and his sense of humor, visit www.DanaCooke.com.

Songwriter/guitarist Scott Allyn and his wife, Laura Austin, will perform a bevy of Scott's original folk-rock songs. Austin recently released a compilation of the couple's songs under her own name on a disc titled "I Could be Anyone."

Rounding out the night is folksinger/songwriter Larry Hoyt, host of WAER-FM 88's folk and acoustic Sunday-afternoon radio show, "Common Threads." Hoyt admits that his original songs on his Hondo Mesa Records debut CD, "Folksinger/Songwriter," reflect the influences of his songwriting heroes, including Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. Since their release last fall, several of Hoyt's songs have aired on more than 75 radio stations around the country.

The Redhouse is located at 201. S. West St., on the corner of West Fayette Street, just west of Armory Square in downtown Syracuse; 425-0405

John Edwards Visits Harvard

John Edwards Visits Harvard


Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina speaks on “Restoring the American Dream” at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum yesterday.
photo credit: Matthew Conroy/Harvard Crimson


"Look at poverty with open eyes...knowing we can end it." - JR Edwards


John Edwards visited Harvard's Institute of Politics to speak about his work on poverty on April 13th. Click here to view video (Realplayer) of the event. It's about an hour and five minutes long.

Edwards began with a joke:

"I'll bet none of you knew I was the son of a mill worker, did you?
I knew that was news to every single one of you."

He said that ending poverty is the biggest issue facing the country. He pointed out the fact that 36 million people live in poverty in America today, and that the content of our country's character is at stake in following necessary steps to alleviate poverty. According to Foster's Online, 'Edwards talked about a couple from North Carolina who started an institution that loans money to the poor to start their own businesses, which he called “the perfect example of what you can do if you have the heart and the backbone to do it.” They started in 1985 with $77 they raised in a bake sale, he said, and have provided $3.9 billion in financing to people living on the margins of society while also destroying the stereotype that lending to the poor is risky.'


Harvard Crimson staff writer Javier C. Hernandez has an interview with former Senator and VP candidate Edwards which appears in today's news. Edwards stressed, while he believes it's important to promote freedom around the world, that it’s also important to make sure that our American democracy is working the way it’s supposed to work. He believes that America would be headed in a different direction, had he (and Kerry) been elected last year. He stressed that the gap between people who are doing well in this country and people who are struggling gets wider and wider. He said, "The income gap, the asset gap continue to get worse under this president. It’s not an accident—it’s the direct result of the policies [the Bush administration] is pursuing. We would have fought with everything we had for an America where your family, where you live, the color of your skin has no influence on your opportunity. That’s the America we believe in. "

The Crimson's Hernandez has also written an article discussing how Edwards outlined his proposals for fighting poverty.

For more commentary, see Stirling Newberry's diary at Daily Kos.

Excerpt:

Many people here will remember his stance on the war first, and not kindly. It can be safely said that I also differ with Senator Edwards' vote on Iraq - but let us not let differences become divides, because it is clear that Senator Edwards genuinely has committed himself to ending poverty, and not merely physical poverty, but moral and spiritual poverty, poverty of hope, poverty of generosity, poverty of participation, in America.--Stirling Newberry

_____________

Thanks to Saheli, I've learned that John Edwards was a guest blogger at Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo today. It takes a man of political courage and conviction to admit he has learned to see things in a different light:

"Like a lot of Democrats, I voted for a bankruptcy reform bill before. I can't say it more simply than this: I was wrong."

___________

Michael Phillips says: "John Edwards is so hot right now. Yesterday he gave a speech at Harvard's Kennedy School, today he gave a speech at New School University's Social Research Conference on Fairness. And then he blogged, not on his One America Committee blog but on Josh Marshall's bankruptcy bill special." Michael linked to the text of Edwards' New School fairness speech.

April 14, 1865

April 14, 1865
April 14, 1865: Lincoln fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending play at Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C.

A southern sympathizer loyal to Virginia, Booth was a twenty-six-year-old struggling actor at the time of the assassination. Shortly thereafter, after escaping to Maryland and then Virginia, he was apprehended and shot to death during a struggle with federal agents in a barn in rural Virginia.

-----


A 19th-Century poster


"He dreamed at night of his death by the hand
Of a bitter world and a faceless man

And he saw his body in a ghastly dream
Draped in black while his widow screamed

Two silver dollars on his eyelids lay
"Abraham Lincoln has died today."

- From the song "John Wilkes Booth" by Mary Chapin Carpenter

THE PREMONITION

"About ten days ago, I retired very late. I had been up waiting for important dispatches from the front. I could not have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber, for I was weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a death-like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible.

I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. I saw light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise.

Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. 'Who is dead in the White House?' I demanded of one of the soldiers, 'The President,' was his answer; 'he was killed by an assassin.'

Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which woke me from my dream. I slept no more that night; and although it was only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since."

-- President Abraham Lincoln

Thursday News

Thursday News

MeetUp.com is now charging each Meet-Up group organizer a $19 service fee. The fee is per group, not per person. Organizers pay the group fee to Meetup.com and may ask their members to chip in. It's up to each organizer. MeetUp says they'll ship (mail, not email) materials to organizers, customized for their group, to help them attract more members. Groups will also receive new tools to pool their money to make better Meetups. I haven't heard many positive comments about this so far.


Harvard students belonging to a group called the Harvard Social Forum (HSF) are finding that they are not being allowed to protest against government recruiters (CIA and DHS) on-campus.

At Daily Kos, diarist Anonymoses announces that the morning radio show Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins (WFAE-FM) will do a show on Blogging, Podcasting & "Social Media" tomorrow, April 15th, at 9 am. It doesn't say who the "two young" guests will be. I suppose we'll have to tune in to find out. They ask you to join them by calling 704-926-WFAE (9323) or 1-800-603-WFAE (9323) or email charlottetalks@wfae.org.

Surfette has anounced that the first BlogHercon is set for July 30th in Santa Clara, CA. Deciding that he'd enter the territory where the Bloghercon organizers dare not go, ("No-Man's Land", pun intended ) Nick Lewis provides related commentary at American Street.

Nick suggests:

Most of the female bloggers that I know will never become a-list bloggers for the following reasons:

a) They already have jobs that pay a lot better than even the most succesful full time blogging gig.

b) Have a tendency not to compromise their integrity and morality for the sake of appealing to a mass audience.

c) Recognize that in a many-to-many medium, a high quality audience is much more rewarding, both intellectually, and emotionally, than a large mediocre one (if you don’t believe me just read the comment threads at Wizbang).

Personally, I think Nick has hit the nail on its head. I don't aspire to be a testosterone and ego-fueled Powerline or to tackle the next big scoop which could make me CNN's Queen of the Bloggers. My own ego doesn't require it. On the average, I get about 140 readers a day. I enjoy connecting with a like-minded community. It brings me satisfaction to know I'm part of a team, regardless of size or popularity, of people who wish to bring about a healthier democracy and social justice; of people who wish to see a more united Democratic party; who share my values, hopes, and dreams for America and the world.


Welcome Alice (CultUre Peace) to the blogoshere.

John Edwards: "The Natural"

photo credit: Chris Winn.com/blog-ky/One America

The Natural:
John Edwards six months later

Mark Shields says that he believes John Edwards will face some obstacles should he decide to make a run for the presidency in 2008 because Political History, itself, offers no supporting evidence to encourage Edwards. Yet, I sense that Shields is saying, without actually articulating his case for Edwards in 2008, that the man he sees as "The Natural" should not be discouraged.

Shields says:

"If politics were like baseball, the 2004 scouting report on John Edwards would have branded him a Natural, endowed with a remarkable ability to connect personally with crowds of strangers almost anywhere, superior stamina, a quick mind and an exceptional ability to express himself in emotionally persuasive language...."

"Nearly 70 years ago, FDR told Americans: "The measure of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, but whether we provide enough to those who have too little."

John Edwards offers a different wrinkle: "We have a moral responsibility to help those around us who are struggling. ... How we treat people in their time of their need is the test of our character." To those struggling, "we see you, we hear you, we embrace you, we are going to lift you up."

It would be a lot different message from the last winning Democratic presidential campaign, which championed school uniforms and the V-chip for television sets..."

Shields says he believes, "absent 9-11, John Edwards would have been his party's presidential nominee" in 2004.

In Today's News

In Today's News

BLOGS

Ron Brynaert is reporting on Ari Berman, who writes The Daily Outrage column at The Nation Website. Berman wrote a powerful article about two 16-year-old Muslim girls - known as A. & T. - who have been detained as "would-be suicide bombers" at a detention center in Leesport, Pennsylvania. No evidence has been offered to prove the bureau's claim and, judging from law enforcement officials quoted in the New York Post, there probably isn't any. The column is titled "Young And Arrested". The column led to another piece by Peter Rothberg called "Detained Without Charge", co-written by Mark Hatch-Miller.

_________

NRSC PRESS RELEASE MUST BE DENOUNCED BY DEMOCRATS

It's time for Democratic leaders including, but not limited to DLC's Al From, Bruce Reed, Senator Joe Lieberman, and TNR writer Peter Beinart to quickly and firmly denounce the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC's) current use of Democrats' own past statements to further divide the Democratic party. Making a claim of being a "rank and file" Democrat means little when the ones claiming the "rank and file" title have been whipped soundly in both national and local elections for the past eight years. As much as we hate to admit it, Karl Rove has been responsible for heading up a strategic team to bring the GOP's own disparate groups together under one tent to win elections. Rove has also been crafty at using Democrats as GOP toolbox-hammers to chip away at the integrity of the Democratic party.

I found it hideously repulsive to learn, from Daily Kos, about the NRSC press release. They're using members of the Democratic party against their fellow Democrats while attacking MoveOn.org and its relation to Congressional Democrats. It's time for Democrats to stand strong, together, in their ethical conviction.

An anonymous "senior Kerry campaign advisor's" negative statement toward MoveOn.org is used in the NRSC memo. (Had it not been for the 3-million-strong MoveOn and its promotion of activism, John Kerry wouldn't have gotten nearly as many votes as he did).

The ever-divisive (and ever-wrong) Al From's DLC-negativity toward MoveOn is used by the NRSC. Al From called concerned blogger-citizens (like me - and I take it personally - ) "elites who sit in our basements all the time and play on our computers." I don't know about my fellow bloggers, but I work my fingers to the bone because I have serious concerns.

Al From has been an insulting and divisive character and it's time for him to SNAP-TO! The Democratic party must unite or ot will be killed by people like the ones at the NRSC who use these past statements to further divide us. They are afraid of Michael Moore because he understands and articulates just how successful the GOP activists have been in the past. He understands their game and would love to see Democrats beat them at this game. He is poised to inspire Democrats to be equally active in grassroots politics. This is nothing of which to be ashamed.

Who knows? It may be too late for Peter Beinart and Joe Lieberman and Al From to redeem themselves from being seen as pathetic hammerheads from the RNC toolbox, rather than as spokesmen and leaders for a united Democratic party. That's a damned shame. Perhaps it won't be too late, if the Beinarts and Froms come out and denounce their being used as tools to divide their party. We need to respect our differences and place a far greater value on our strength of conviction. If these "tools" cannot recognize and denounce their being used so blatantly, they should move completely out of the way of the Democrats who do wish to unite behind leaders who'll show they want and know how to unite and strengthen the party.

I, for one, will not sit back quietly and watch them all botch another election cycle. I will be willing to forgive and forget the fact that these Democrats have ridiculously and carelessly classified people like me as "basement-dwelling elite radicals" if they would only see how they are being used and denounce it at once. Let's take the lesson the NRSC doesn't want us to learn from this and, in the spirit of Michael Moore and MoveOn.org activism - combined with dropping the DLC-ego at the door - try to work together to create a consistent and clear identity and message for the Democratic party.

________

According to Regime Change Iran, the USA plans to expand military presence in Azerbaijan 'to strike Iran'. According to Pravda, Donald Rumsfeld's recent trip to Azerbaijan was for two reasons: The first reason involves the transportation of the Caspian oil and the security of the Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan oil pipeline. The second reason involves the USA's interest in establishing mobile army bases on the territory of Azerbaijan, which is stipulated in the plan to re-deploy US troops in Europe and Asia.

____________

At Taran Rampersad's site, I saw a couple of quotes which I thought were interesting:

"Democracy is the name we give the people whenever we need them."

— Marquis de Flers Robert and Arman de Caillavet

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

"A word in a dictionary is very much like a car in a mammoth motorshow
- full of potential, but temporarily inactive."

— Anthony Burgess, author (1917-1993)

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

I found this quote, part of James Wolcott's recent post, as particularly meaningful:

"Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving: it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe."

--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

_________________


Robert Stribley's been busy writing fiction, but he took the time to blog about which tunes he thinks George W. Bush might have on his iPod.

Semidi raises our awareness about a totally unrealistic story popping up from the AP about how George Pataki is allegedly "narrowing the gap" against Eliot Spitzer in the race for New York State Governor. Maybe that'll give false hope to the GOP in New York and they won't feel that they have to pull Rudy Giuliani out of the box as Pataki's replacement. I don't think Spitzer is losing any sleep over it. I suppose, if the gap wasn't the size of the Grand Canyon, he might be. New York is a still a secure blue state and Pataki has worn out the trust moderate voters once had in him.

Wonkette has some links to last week's NPC "Who You Calling a Journalist?" conference.

At the North Carolina-based business blog Trade Street Journal, there is a link to the Greensboro News-Record's coverage of Roch Smith Jr's growing "101" network.

Outside the Beltway, which boasts a large "Anyone But Hillary" ad, points out a Marist Poll that says that adults polled in New York state would rather see Rudy, not Hillary, run for President in 2008. (Methodology: Telephone interviews to 705 registered New York voters, conducted on Apr. 4 and Apr. 5, 2005. Margin of error is 4 per cent.) Comments by readers of Outside the Beltway are skeptical, at best.

Here are two examples:

FYI, the same Marist poll had 51% of NY state registered voters saying they would definitely re-elect Hillary Clinton to the Senate and 56% rate the job she is doing as senator as excellent or good. 43% of voters rate the president’s job performance positively.

Posted by: Chris
----------------------------

Don’t underestimate the anger with which many women view Giuliani because of the messy way he conducted his divorce. I think he’d have a very hard time winning an election again.

Posted by: John

_______

Freepers have posted (and discussed) the debate between Katrina vanden Heuvel, Michael Tomasky, and Peter Beinart regarding the present state of liberalism in America, and its future, which was originally printed in the NYT (March 6th). Sorry I'm so late with mentioning this one.


NATIONAL POLITICS

MSNBC - "The SouthCom inquiry and other prisoner-abuse investigations may derail President Bush's pending nomination of Pentagon general counsel William Haynes to a U.S. Court of Appeals seat in Richmond, Virginia."

___________

David Hoffman, legal editor of Pravda, admits: "My name is David R. Hoffman, Legal Editor of Pravda. And I am a loser."

Excerpt:

I ask, "Who are the wise and who are the fools? Are the wise those who live long lives, acquiring material possessions through stealth, deceit and the exploitation of others while being trumpeted with sycophantic praise? Are the fools those who dare to struggle for a better world, thus spending their often too brief time on earth in suffering, hardship and frustration?

I do not know the answers. But I cannot help but think that thousands, perhaps millions, ask these same questions everyday.

The famed mathematician Descartes once said, "I think therefore I am." But in American society this motto has been transformed into: "To be one must conspicuously consume." So, in the eyes of the society I live in, I do not exist.

Of course invisibility is a fitting fate for a loser. But considering how low people will often sink in their quest to become "winners," perhaps being a loser is not so terrible after all.

WORLD NEWS

Castro Talks About Pope John Paul
Note from LA Weekly:

"So many big names have passed away so quickly that people have taken to joking about it. When The Daily Show flashed an image of Fidel Castro honoring John Paul II, Jon Stewart’s comment was, “He’s next.”

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

Jesus Christ born in Ukraine

Iddy's Pin-Up Boy

Beefcake


Some of my readers will know Iddybud's
Pin-Up Boy for April

News From The Blogs

News From The Blogs

Josh Marshall wants you to listen to the wild and wacky Mullah Dobson compare the Supreme Court to the KKK.

On the vote for confirmation of John Bolton and Lincoln Chaffee's expected "yes" vote, Marshall says he's "waiting to see if Sen. Chafee is concerned that Bolton was the guy who pretty much single-handedly resurrected the Niger uranium monkey-business at the State Department."

Michael Hawkins believes that our soldiers are being deemed non-persons and points to an Independent article which claims the US is 'smuggling wounded troops home' under the cover of darkness.

At Common Ills, they're talking about Danny Schecter and Buzzflash interviews with Barbara Ehrenreich. Other topics include John Bolton and the NY Times' revisiting the RNC protests of last fall, particularly Jim Dwyer's "Videos Challenge Accounts of Convention Unrest".

I just loved reading Saheli's flowing contemplation upon a
skull& floral dress. It reminded me of "A Contemplation upon Flowers" by Henry King, Bishop of Chichester:

"Brave flowers—that I could gallant it like you,
And be as little vain!
You come abroad, and make a harmless show,
And to your beds of earth again.
You are not proud: you know your birth:
For your embroider'd garments are from earth.

You do obey your months and times, but I
Would have it ever Spring:
My fate would know no Winter, never die,
Nor think of such a thing.
O that I could my bed of earth but view
And smile, and look as cheerfully as you!

O teach me to see Death and not to fear,
But rather to take truce!
How often have I seen you at a bier,
And there look fresh and spruce!
You fragrant flowers! then teach me, that my breath
Like yours may sweeten and perfume my death."

At Dirty Tricks blog, we learn that the Bush administration has named 15 states that it said had used "improper accounting techniques" to obtain excessive amounts of federal Medicaid money. Namely: Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.

Tara Liloia from Blog For America comments on Paul Krugman's latest column, where he asks what we should conclude from the fact that self-proclaimed conservatives make up only a small minority of professors at elite universities. Krugman reminds us that the Republican Party is being increasingly dominated by people who believe truth should be determined by revelation, not research.

Lorianne took a morning walk.

Zardozz tells us about a fight developing inside the giant publishing house PENGUIN over a book about Hillary Clinton.

Rox is not at all pleased with a comment she'd read about women. Rox also provides you with her 'guilty-pleasure' list of movies.

Here are a few of mine:

- Joe Versus the Volcano
- Ruthless People
- Caddyshack
- While You Were Sleeping
- Sleepless in Seattle
- The End of The Affair
- Beauty & The Beast (Disney)
- Mary Poppins (Disney)
- How Green Was My Valley
- Merlin (made for TV)
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
- Kill Bill (1 and 2)



..in progress

Quote/Photo

photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

"Whoso walketh in solitude,
And inhabiteth the wood,
Choosing light, wave, rock and bird,
Before the money-loving herd,
Unto that forester shall pass
From these companions, power and grace."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (Woodnotes)

Middle East Issues on the Net

Hanan Ashrawi; Amira Hass; NPR's Robert Siegel and CAMERA

Palestinian legislator and frequent spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi spoke last week at Sarah Lawrence College.

The Palestinians, whose economy and infrastructure were devastated by recent fighting, can't do it alone, she said. They need better living conditions through freedom of movement, job opportunities, and an overall end to occupation, Ashrawi said. The construction of settlements in the West Bank and Israel's security wall threatened the viability of a Palestinian state, Ashrawi said.

The wall is controversial because it cut into Palestinian land and divided Palestinian towns and villages. Ashrawi hoped the United States would get involved in diplomacy, and said President Bush's hands-off policy contributed to the troubles of the past four years. She urged the United States to become a player in negotiations once again. "The window of opportunity is not going to be permanent," Ashrawi said. "We need positive involvement and positive interaction and possibly a coalition of the willing for peace."

The Journal News 4-6-05

The organization known as CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America ) is no fan of Ashrawi's. See them try to bring her down a peg (or two thousand) with their recent diatribe titled "Ha'aretz Gives Hanan Ashrawi a Makeover"

CAMERA is no fan of NPR's Robert Siegel, either. Professionally, it doesn't get much uglier than the exchange between Siegel and CAMERA's Andrea Levin. I see this as a disagreement between a woman with an agenda and a news reporter who stands accused of having an agenda. Your opinion on the matter will be subject to where you stand, ideologically speaking. I think it has "witch-hunt" written all over it.

"Ms. Levin seems to insist on her assertion that I present Palestinian positions as fact. She offers no apology for that, or for mixing up my work with others. As for when my reporting ended in Israel, when NPR needs a shrill Likud polemicist to handle its assignments, I'll check with her when it's time to knock off on a reporting trip."

- NPR's Robert Siegel about CAMERA's Andrea Levin

Haaretz reporter Amira Hass, who is the only Israeli journalist living in the Occupied Territories, was a guest on Democracy Now. See "Israeli Journalist Amira Hass Reflects on Reporting Under Occupation"

I enjoyed reading her recent story about a woman named Basama Bourkan.


I'll end this blog piece by telling you that poverty and hunger exist in the Middle East today, in Israel and in the Occupied Terrirtories. Regardless of whose side of the "fence" you may be on, remember these are human beings whose citizens suffer from violence, fear, and the poverty that comes with war. Its effects are seen here at home in America, too (you'll notice it if you're paying close attention). It isn't flashed on the Breaking News on FOX or the front pages of the newspapers, but the money our government is spending on war and the policies of the majority-holding GOP will only assure that more families will be struggling in years to come. The poor are the ones with the social invisibility, seldom heard, always the last to be recognized.

The United States government could end world hunger if they set their mind to it. Rich nations are using the WTO against poor countries.

John Edwards in the News

John Edwards in the News

North Carolina Voices - Understanding Poverty
WUNC 91.5 North Carolina Public Radio
Hear the radio series for the next two weeks.
Schedule here.
LISTEN LIVE - Real Audio - Windows Media
What Is Poverty?

Poverty in America:

›› U.S. Poverty Guidelines

›› America's Poverty Rate and how it was developed.

›› Understanding Poverty in America

›› Take a tour of poverty in America.

›› Live in poverty for a day.

›› Minimum Wage analysis


Understanding Poverty:

›› The World Bank breakdown of international poverty, country by country.

›› Measuring Poverty in the U.K.

›› Measuring Poverty in Canada.

›› Measuring Poverty in Africa.

›› The World Bank guide to measuring poverty.

__________________


Edwards in Asheville

John Edwards was in Asheville last night at the annual Liston B. Ramsey Spring Gala on Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s Enka campus.

______________________

John Edwards Walks APWU Picket Line

John Edwards, the Democrat's vice presidential candidate last year, gave a boost to striking APWU truck drivers in Des Moines when he walked the picket line with them April 1.

The union drivers work for Mail Contractors of America (MCA), one of the nation's largest private mail haulers.

Edwards, a former U.S. senator, walked the line for about 20 minutes, according to Des Moines Area Local APWU President Lance Coles. "He expressed his support for the drivers' cause and talked with several of them individually," Coles said. "While walking with the APWU members, he spoke with President Burrus by phone."

________________________

Edwards Meets With Low-Wage Security Officers in LA

Last March 16th, in order to raise awareness about the issue of poverty in America, John Edwards met with low-wage security officers in Los Angeles. Union organizer Miguel Contreras , who has built a political machine in Los Angeles based on labor's clout, thinks highly of John Edwards: (LA Times)

With his wireless glasses, slightly cherubic face and rapid-fire speech, Contreras bears little resemblance to Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone. But the son of Central Valley farmworkers, a 52-year-old union organizer who never went beyond high school, is uniformly viewed as one of the most influential people in Los Angeles....he may take a leave of absence from the federation to help a 2008 Democratic presidential candidate. So far, he's been most impressed with John Edwards. The North Carolina senator called on Contreras during his presidential bid last year, and they talked again when Edwards was in Los Angeles on Wednesday. "I know the labor movement around the country pretty well, and I would like to take someone to the White House," Contreras said. "I want the opportunity to at least try it."

From the One America site, here is Edwards' statement (thanks to Chris Winn and SEIU)

John Edwards' statement on
Security Workers Fighting for Fairness:

"Today, I am honored to support the thousands of security officers who are organizing across the nation to demand fair wages and health benefits so they can get ahead instead of constantly falling behind.

"Their efforts to form a union with SEIU could bring higher wages, higher standards of living and greater economic opportunity for thousands of Americans who are working hard and playing by the rules, but still living in poverty.

"Working full time and getting nowhere goes against what we believe in as Americans - that a good job should provide a pathway out of poverty. But with wages stagnating and costs skyrocketing, that simply isn't true for millions of Americans.

"As we commemorate the 37th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we should remember that Dr. King spent his final days working with sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King's life and deeds remind us that a fair wage for an honest day's work is a civil right - something all Americans deserve so they can lead a life of dignity and have a shot at the American dream.

"Dr. King said 'injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' Today, I can think of no better way to honor his words than to stand with SEIU and the thousands of private security officers who are fighting for a fair shake all across America."

David Brooks and Frank Rich

David Brooks and Frank Rich

Ain't We Unipolar?

Reading the NY Times columns today, I found it interesting that David Brooks is tapping directly into the culture of death, employing recently-deceased Saul Bellow to bash European culture and to pump up the status of "unipolar American culture", while Frank Rich exposes the employment of the culture of death for the 'unipolar' American freak-show that it is. The juxtaposition is all too beautiful - almost outrageous. We Americans are a ridiculous lot if we deny that the ideas unique to our current American culture are not born of the melting pot. America's still the baby. Other than the Native Americans, our roots lie someplace else in this world. By the way, David Brooks has shown that he is not paying attention to the wonderful new creations coming out of Europe these days. Is that Europe's fault or David's - for donning the blinders of ethnocentricity? He's much like his fellow Americans, with little interest in the culture of other countries. Americans tend to travel abroad far less than citizens of other countries. This is why I believe Frank Rich's opinion is more powerful. He sees our culture for what it is - and who we are, with no need to intellectualize Europe away.

News

News

WORLD:

NYT - To Contain Virus in Angola, Group Wants Hospital Closed
Doctors Without Borders has been battling a hemorrhagic fever called the Marburg virus that so far has killed 181 Angolans. They have urged the Angolan government to close the regional hospital here, at the center of the outbreak, saying the medical center itself is a source of the deadly infection.

ABCNews- In Israel, Small Protest by Ultranationalists Disrupts Peace
Protest organizers have said Sunday's event was a trial run for the summer's withdrawal when they want to divert as many troops as possible from dismantling Jewish settlements in Gaza by forcing them to secure other areas, including the Jerusalem shrine. The tension in Jerusalem came a day after Israeli troops killed three Palestinian teens in Gaza in disputed circumstances and fueled fears that a shaky two-month-old truce will collapse.


Firdos Square, central Baghdad, yesterday
credit- Penninsula.com

Boston Globe - Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites protest US presence
The protest, on the second anniversary of Hussein's fall, was one of the largest in Baghdad since the US invasion. "Force the occupiers out of our country," one banner read. "Yes for Islam, yes for Iraq. No to occupation, no to terrorism," another said. Some held effigies of Hussein, President Bush, and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. Photos can be seen HERE.

UPDATE: The number of protestors was not tens of thousands, it was hundreds of thousands - 300,000. American Street writer Hesiod says:

of course, the pro-Bush U.S. media will never report massive anti-US protests in Iraq the same way as anti-Syrian protests in Lebanon, for example.

There is such a built in homer bias in our pro-Bush media that they consider any anti-American activity in Iraq, even if it is peaceful, somewhow illegtimimate or worse, phony.

Well…300,000 people isn’t a “phony” protest. You can’t coerce or con 300,000 people to show up and protest like that in Iraq.

I hope the pro-Bush media realizes that if they actually covered this protest, and others like it honestly, it would help STOP the violence in Iraq. If the insurgents and anti-American forces see these protests getting traction and making us change our policy, then they are less likely to engage in attack on our troops!

____________________________


SYRACUSE

Syracuse Peace Council Newsletter- Jimmy Massey: Healing A Soul by Jude Nagurney Camwell
This is my own article, which appears in the current SPC Newsletter. I hope you'll take a moment to read it.


Syracuse Post Standard - West Genesee School District on the list of 100 Best Communities for Music Education
My son takes part in this music program, so I can personally tell you that the acclaim is well-deserved. It is the only Central New York school district on this year's list from the American Music Conference. Congratulations to Dave Perry, Director of Fine Arts and to all the staff and supporters of the music programs at West Genny.



NOW CNY/Syracuse -
Celebrate April With Poetry

The famous poet T.S.Eliot called April the "cruelest month". Since April is now poetry month, Eliot, were he still alive, might change his mind. What better time to celebrate both women and poetry? CNY NOW is presenting three outstanding women poets reading their works about women this Thursday, April 14, at 7:00 pm in the Delevan Center Gallery. The Gallery i slocated at 501 West Fayette Street in Syracuse (free parking available). The program is free and open to the public.

Janine DeBaise teaches writing and literature at SUNY College of Forestry. Her poems have appeared in various literary journals. "Of A Feather, a collection of her poetry, came out in 2003. Here academic interests include ecofeminism, ecocriticism, and the intersection of science and literature.

Georgia Popoff is a community poet, performer, educator, spoken word producer, and senior editor of The Comstock Review. A teaching poet in schools and the community, including the Downtown Writer's Center, the Syracuse chapter of the YMCA's national Writers' Voice program, she has appeared in numerous journals, anthologies, and web publications. Collections include Coaxing Nectar from Longing (Hale Mary Press, 1997), and Gold: The Greatest Hits 1998-2003 (Pudding House Press chapbook series). Georgia is also coordinator for Partners for Arts Education and a board member of the Association of Teaching Artists.

Mary McLaughlin Slechta's short fiction and poetry have appeared in many fine journals and anthologies. Buried Bones, a chapbook of poems, came out in 2004 by Foothills Publishing. She is a teacher and an associate editor with The Comstock Review.



Syracuse New Times - "Mother Knows Best" - by Karen DeCrow
More than a century later, the words of feminist pioneer Matilda Joslyn Gage ring loud and clear



Women's Studies Lecture at LeMoyne College, Tuesday, April 12

On Tuesday, April 12, 7:00-9:00pm, in the Curtin Special Events Room at LeMoyne College, Omid Safi (Colgate) on "Islam, Gender, and Social Change".
Safi is a professor of Religious Studies. His latest work, Progressive Muslims, challenges traditional interpretations of Islam. Safi will discuss the importance of feminist thought in the progressive Islam movement. Co-sponsored with Religious Studies and Peace and Global Studies.

Truth

photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

What is Truth? What is this truth to which you refer? There was once a Zen monk who asked his master to reveal to him Truth. He asked: 'master, is there any deeper teaching which you have not revealed yet to me?' His master replied: 'you have tasted the best wine of Zen. You have finished already three cups. And you still say that your mouth is not wet?'

That is how blind we are. Where is Truth? For you truth is just a concept, an idea. When you sit in meditation what do you think you experience? Isn't it Truth itself? What more do you want?

I have nothing to offer you! I am empty. I just Am. I am living in Not-knowing. Knowing is a burden. Not-knowing is Freedom. Knowledge separates you from Reality. Not-knowing allows you to live reality directly. Meet yourself! Relax into What Is. Surrender to Reality. Let go of the mind. Be the Truth! Truth is nothing `special'. In Zen they say that nothing is better than nothing. Surrender to What Is and not to what could be.


- I pass this gift on to you as it was passed to me by Mahamudra

Islamic Feminism - A Blog Directory

Islamic Feminism - A Blog Directory

Who is Amina Wadud? Why Is She in the News?
See today's Boston Globe for more of the story.
Read "Making History at Friday Prayer". (IHT)


Islamic Feminism Before and After September 11th
by Miriam Cooke, Ph.D., Professor of Arabic and Chair of the Department of Asian & African Languages & Literature at Duke University, Durham NC

Muslim Feminists Moving Forward
An interview with the Indonesian first lady, Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid

Muslim Women: A New Hope?(The Hindu 4/5)
An article on the first Legal Literacy Camp in Delhi, sponsored by the Muslim Women's Forum and The National Federation of Indian Women, among others.

Behind the Veil, A Muslim Feminist (Srinagi Journal 4/26)
An article on Asiyah Andrabi, a "conservative Muslim and radical feminist"

Feminism in Islamic Africa (Africana)
An article on the history and content of the feminist movement in Islamic Africa.

Exploring Islamic Feminism
(Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars)

Benazir Bhutto (CNN Newsmaker)
A brief biography of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the first Muslim woman to become her country's leader.

Islamic Traditions and the Feminist Movement (American University)
A background article on the Islamic feminist movement.

Muslim Women's League
An American non-profit organization of Muslim women.

Muslim Feminists and the Veil (Maryams.Net)
To veil or not to veil - is that the question?

veiled4allah: resources on Muslim feminism

Biographical Sketches of Famous Muslim Women (Maryams.net)
Glimpses of the lives of some famous Muslim women who have been strong enough to make their mark.

On the Position of Women in Islam and in Islamic Society by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi
"A revolution against the condition of women in the traditional Muslim societies is inevitable. The Islamists are urged by their own ideals to reform the traditional society and to close the gap between the fallen historical reality and the desired model of ideal Islam."

Islam, Feminism and Living as the ‘Muslim Other’: an Interview with Asma Barlas
Professor Asma Barlas has become one of the leading academics in the United States studying Islam, examining progressive and non-patriarchal readings of the Qur’an and the West’s interaction with the Muslim world. She is the author of Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an and is Chair of the Politics Department at Ithaca College in New York.

Shirin Ebadi Book Excerpts (BadJens.com)
Excerpts from the book, Women's Rights in the Laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran
by Shirin Ebadi, published in Iran in 2002

Progressive Muslims Network
The PMN supports the efforts of Islamic feminists in working to bring about the equality of men and women. They further call on Muslim countries and communities around the world to end gender motivated injustice and establish full legal and social equality for women.

Various Articles at Maryams.net
Also a list of Recommended Books

Resources at Barnesand Noble.com

Books I haven't read

Books I Haven't Read

Three books have recently been recommended to me that have been available for some time, but I have either missed or overlooked them while spending time writing my own stories and blog entries.

The first recommendation I've received is a novel titled The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The blogger known as Broom of Anger has recently finished reading the book and offers a brief review. See this 2003 essay from Mr. Hosseini about a trip to Afghanistan in which life imitates art. Mr. Hosseini is a physician in the San Francisco Bay Area. 'The Kite Runner' was his debut novel.


The second recommended book is Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor. An Amazon.com review says:

When it first appeared in Story magazine in 1938, Address Unknown became an immediate social phenomenon and literary sensation. Published in book form a year later and banned in Nazi Germany, it garnered high praise in the United States and much of Europe. A series of fictional letters between a Jewish art dealer living in San Francisco and his former business partner, who has returned to Germany, Address Unknown is a haunting tale of enormous and enduring impact.

The third book is non-fiction. "Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World" by Jan Goodwin
Goodwin traveled to 10 countries to interview Muslim women who revealed how their oppressive and confining political systems have affected their lives.

Ouestion:

Any other recommendations you may have would be appreciated.
What have you recently read that you believe should not be missed?

Photo/Poem

photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

Now, in this waning of light
I rock with the motion of morning.
In the cradle of all that is,
I’m lulled into half sleep
By the lapping of waves,
The cries of the sandpiper.

Water’s my will and my way,
And the spirit runs, intermittently,
In and out of the small waves,
Runs with the intrepid shore birds —
How graceful the small before danger!

In the first of the moon,
All’s a scattering,
A shining.


- Theodore Roethke
Part IV of Meditation at Oyster River

News

News

SYRACUSE

The Syracuse Peace Council sponsored a memorial reading of the names of those killed as a result of the Iraq war. Just a stone's throw away, there was a special mass held in honor of Pope John Paul II at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. I attended both. At the reading, I heard the names of Iraqi citizens who were victims (recalling one aged 6, another aged 91), along with coalition troops and American troops. I thought of the Pope and how he spoke out against the war as unjust. I think he would have been smiling upon the Peace Council volunteer readers and their respectful listeners today.


BLOGS

where's the compassion? where's the conservative? where's the "christian"?
- Skippy The Bush Kangaroo

Matthew Yglesias comments on the the NPC "Who Is A Journalist?" panel in which he was a participant.
See NYBLADE.com story here. Link to CSPAN video.


THE WORLD:

At the funeral of Pope John II, when Bush's face appeared on giant screen TVs showing the ceremony, many in the crowds outside St. Peter's Square booed. Link to CSPAN video of funeral.


Shi'ite Mahdi Army Reopens Second Iraqi Resistance Front


A Pax Christi International Statement on Mordechai Vanunu

Peace Bus Reunites Divided Families -

India and Pakistan on Thursday launched a historic bus link to reunite divided families on both sides of Kashmir. Greeted by cheers, tears and dancing, bus passengers defied militants and crossed the militarised line dividing Kashmir for the first time in nearly 60 years. Kashmiris wept joyfully and clutched their loved ones after being reunited by the historic bus service. “It’s a blessing. I never thought this day would come,” said passenger Raja Naseer Khan, 60, a retired civil servant from Srinagar, as he met his niece Noreen Arif for the first time.

From RUSI (Royal United Services Institute) -
"Democracy in the Middle East:
Handle with Care"

Excerpt:

"Neo-pan-Arab West-blaming, which focuses on the symbols of neo-imperialism in Iraq and Palestine, deflects attention from the gross failures of domestic politics in the separate nations of the Arab world, and usefully serve the purposes of the ruling elites in Egypt, Syria, Saudi and elsewhere. Neo-pan-Arabism plays to the worst majority-rule instincts within the Middle East. It disallows distinctions between cultures, but also between political experience and history.

The US-UK alliance’s war in Iraq is to blame for only adding more fuel to this old ideological fire. As many liberal Arab commentators predicted, it has narrowed the margins of political discourse in the Arab world even further (opposition calls for reform – as we saw in Beirut – are immediately attacked for ‘betraying the country to the US’) and has tarnished the principle of democracy. But regardless, it is time to say that pan-Arabism of this nature does not serve anyone’s interests.

The Bush Administration’s democratization programme can, as we have seen in Georgia, Ukraine, Beirut (and perhaps even Kyrgyzstan), provide the impetus for real change if properly made use of. Reformers in the Middle East, be they of secular, Islamist, liberal or socialist ilk, cannot afford to fall into the trap set by their own authorities which casts reform as American and therefore suspect to the point of treachery. Let us hope that broad Arab support for the Lebanese ‘revolution’ (whatever its character) heralds a new era – when the Arab world realizes that to stand up to the West, it must use it."

NATIONAL POLITICS:

Mel Martinez, what on Earth were you thinking? Brian may be a Darling, but he's certainly not the darling of the GOP for having written that dog of a Schiavo-strategy memo, and neither are you.


--John Bolton (Mr. Milk Moustache) is definitely one of The Worst of the Bad Nominees.


Editor and Publisher - Guardsman in Iraq Tells Local Paper Armor for Vehicles Still Inadequate


Truthout: Public Poll Shows Bush Approval Still Slipping, Public View of Congress Is Even Worse: Bush's job approval is at 44 percent, with 54 percent disapproving. Only 37 percent have a favorable opinion of the work being done by the Republican-controlled Congress, according to an AP-Ipsos poll.

Statement of General Wesley K. Clark, House Armed Services Committee hearing,April 6, 2005:

"It is a privilege to appear today to present my thoughts on Iraq and our armed forces, to offer a brief retrospective on the mission there, to sketch out a successful way ahead, and to discuss the implications for the U.S. armed forces..."

Related Story at Aljazeerah.com: Clark Says Bush's policy towards Syria and Iran encourage the two states to work against the U.S. interests in Iraq


Who’s Better Off? - Statement On Iraq by Rep. Ron Paul, MD, given before the House of Representatives on April 6, 2005:

"Protection of life and liberty must once again become the issue that drives political thought in this country. If this goal is replaced by an effort to promote world government, use force to plan the economy, regulate the people, and police the world, against the voluntary desires of the people, it can be done only with the establishment of a totalitarian state. There’s no need for that. It’s up to Congress and the American people to decide our fate, and there is still time to correct our mistakes."

LABOR:

After a ten-year long struggle, 49,000 Illinois child care providers have finally joined a union. What this will mean for the lives of these mostly female workers, their families, and the 200,000 children they take care of? Check out this blog entry by Angenita Tanner, a Chicago childcare provider who stepped up and took on the fight 10 years ago. This is part of a broader fight to give the women and men who take care of our children and our grandparents -- the people who make up what somehave called the "economy of care" -- a real voice in how our society treats them and the people they take care of.
- How does US childcare compares to rest of world?
- How does quality childcare help the economy?
*Thanks to SEIU for contributing this story.


NEW YORK STATE POLITICS:

This Sunday morning, Eliot Spitzer will appear on This Week with George Stephanopoulous. He will be discussing issues related to his ongoing investigation of the insurance industry. You can sign up to become a 'Friend of Eliot'. Visit the 'Join Eliot' page by clicking here.

NYT: The Bush Administration is considering one of the biggest spending cuts since Washington first began subsidizing housing.

Excerpt:

"If the changes sought by the administration take effect, they will result in one of the biggest cuts since Washington first began subsidizing housing: as much as $480 million, or 14 percent, of the $3.4 billion federal budget for day-to-day operations, including labor, maintenance, insurance and utilities, at the nation's 3,100 housing authorities. Housing authorities in New York State would be among the hardest hit, under a new formula that works against older urban areas."

FROM THE WEIRD:

Editor and Publisher - New York Times has fired writer Susan Sachs, alleging she wrote anonymous e-mails to the 'wives of Times reporters in Baghdad' commenting on their sexual behavior. Sachs denies it and says she'll fight it.

Religious/Social Justice Groups Re-Enter Politics with Renewed Vigor

Religious/Social Justice Groups Re-Enter Politics with Renewed Vigor

Faith Voices For the Common Good

Throughout American history, from the abolitionists and suffragists of the nineteenth century to the feminists and civil rights activists of the twentieth, mainstream-progressive religion has served as a bedrock of humane and democratic values. Renewed public visibility of faithful religions is essential to maintain America’s rich democratic traditions and to insure vigorous debate within the American public sphere.

Faith Voices amplifies the efforts of its progressive religious and progressive activist member organizations by delivering process efficiencies via community interconnectivity. Our goal is to contribute to the renewal of American democratic life.

Faith Voices and its partners share these values:

1. Appreciation for diversity.
2. The inviolable dignity of every human being.
3. Peaceful, multilateral resolution of conflict.
4. Responsible stewardship of the earth’s resources.
5. Justice for all, including the underprivileged and disenfranchised.
6. Hospitality toward immigrants and other strangers.
7. Care for the most vulnerable among us.


Join the mailing list.
View the Discussion Forum.

Clergy and Laity Network - United For Justice

"We invite clergy and lay people from throughout the country to join us. We seek a new commitment to active participation in the political processes of our nation by those members of religious communities who hold views larger than sectarian interests or narrow ideologies and who serve, beyond private advantage and any claim of spiritual superiority, the moral vision of the common good."

Building the Beloved Community
Blogs

Peace, Not Poverty - The Declaration

A MORAL MISSION
We will return America to its true moral mission and restore its historic commitment to the common good. We must do more for those among us who suffer from poverty, hunger, inadequate health care, and educational disparity. The progressive movement is now at a turning point. Dozens of progressive religious leaders and organizations are rising as one to speak out against war and greed, and to build what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the Beloved Community. The Beloved Community promotes non-violence, social justice, fair and equal treatment under the law, care for the environment, and freedom.

_________________________

"It is necessary for us to realize that we have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights. When you deal with human rights you are not dealing with something clearly defined in the Constitution. They are rights that are clearly defined by the mandates of a humanitarian concern."


- Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated April 4, 1968

Daniel Okrent Speaks at S.U.

NYT Editor Daniel Okrent Speaks at S.U.

"Bloggers, said Okrent, are having a "huge" influence on The Times -- both for good and for bad. On the one hand, bloggers are holding the paper accountable for factual errors and for not covering some things. On the other hand, some bloggers make up stories that just aren't true. Okrent does read blogs, particularly high-traffic blogs, which sometimes provide their readers with links to e-mail Okrent about certain stories...."

blogJosh (Josh Shear) has a write-up on NYT editor Daniel Okrent's public conversation last night with David Rubin, dean of the Newhouse School for Public Communications at Syracuse University.

_______________________

From reader Eddie Paul Miller:

I'd steer people to two stories at The Common Ills.

1) The first is called "Daniel Okrent Step Down"


2) "Was Daniel Okrent Censured? Randy Cohen (The Ethicist) Says He Was"

I'm really tired of the mainstream press covering up for Daniel Okrent and I hope the blogs will not let him step down in a hazy glow of glory after what he did to that one reader.

-E.P. Miller

Jimmy Carter Snubbed by White House

Jimmy Carter Snubbed
by White House
The One Former President Most Likely To Attend the Funeral of Pope John Paul II
Is Conspicuous by His Absence
by Jude Nagurney Camwell

As seen at American Street today.

Peter Jennings-My prayers are with you

Peter Jennings - My prayers are with you



I am very sorry to hear that Peter Jennings has lung cancer. I sensed that he was feeling very ill last Friday as he delivered the evening news and my heart goes out to him and his family. My own mother has been struggling with cancer for the past two years and I know the toll it takes upon the patient and caring supporters around him or her. In the case of serious illness, even as we take mental count of our losses, it is also a time to fully realize all the blessings we have in this life and to appreciate what it means to be fully alive, despite hardships. Times of life transition can be portals to deeper connections with our own inner wisdom and with those we love. My prayers are with Peter and his family.

In The News Today

In The News Today

The Real Iraq - Not Pessimistic, Not Optimistic - Just Real

- Juan Cole provides us with some excerpts from stories about Iraq which we haven't seen in the U.S. press.


Tom DeLay - Ultimate Poster Boy for D.C. Corruption

- I think it's a shame that Republican House representatives consciously chose to put 'Party' ahead of 'Country' today by defending the egregious and arrogantly unethical political activities of Tom Delay. House Republicans expressed strong support for the Majority Leader, dismissing Democratic criticism of DeLay as "evidence of partisan politics." If we are aiming to be a united and consistently moral and ethical America, we have to start criticizing somewhere, and it may as well be with the most powerful perpetrator of unethical political behavior. It's time for our Representatives to make the nation's interests their top priority. Accusations of partisanship, when a booming majority of citizens can see that Delay is the ultimate poster boy for corruption of power in D.C., are insults to our intelligence and sense of ethics. Do they think we can't detect their ethical inconsistency? Borrowing from Gandhi, we must be the change we all want to see. A very large majority of Americans are appalled by the greasy-palmed cooperation between our Representatives and lobbyists in Washington, D.C. It's gone on far too long in the bold light of day. Shame on House Republicans! They displayed a total disrespect for the values of truth and honesty today.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Tom DeLay's wife and daughter have been paid more than $500,000 since 2001 by his political action and campaign committees.


Tragedy in San Jose de Apartado

The crimes Oscar Romero gave his life opposing are being committed today in Colombia. In response to the killing of eight members of the Colombian peace community San Jose de Apartado, activists organized by Witness for Peace (WFP) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) held a vigil at the U.S. State Department, which is responsible for certifying Colombia to receive billions of dollars in military aid. The peace community holds the Colombian military responsible for the killings, which included dismemberment of bodies with machetes. Jesus Abad Colorado was a photojournalist who accompanied the community members who had spent four days in search of the bodies. You can take action by writing a letter to the State Department. (See Maryknoll site).

In progress