Friday, December 10, 2004
knowledge + money = power
at this site you will discover quite a lovely concise list of what major corporation donated money to who - and about how much. no shopping at wal-mart for me. like that was ever an issue!
Friday, November 19, 2004
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
hard facts......
the science of voter fraud and a stolen election. complete with graphs.....
Freezerbox: I Smell a Rat
Freezerbox: I Smell a Rat
Monday, November 15, 2004
something big is about to happen...
"Dear Friends,
When actress Susan Sarandon appeared on the Bill Maher show over the weekend, he asked her what is the biggest issue we face as a nation.
Her reply was "voter fraud."
The usually knowledgeable Maher had no idea what she was talking about. When he asked, she replied: "Something BIG is about to happen."
What I'm about to tell you is going to be hard to swallow at first. But if you're like most of us, once you start looking at the evidence, you'll scrape yourself off the ceiling, put your eyeballs back in their sockets, and you'll try to figure out what to do. So here it is.
The highest crime in the history of our country took place on November 2nd. The evidence is now mounting (into a HUGE mountain) that the election was stolen. There is already a congressional investigation underway and a consumer investigation (headed by Ralph Nader).
Electronic voting machines that were manufactured by supporters of the Republican Party were used to alter the will of the people.
The internet message boards and chat rooms are bursting with talk about this. You can wait another couple days to hear about it in the mainstream media, or you can read on. Just remember where you heard it first.
I will outline the key points in this email and provide a link with much more information at the bottom. More information is coming out literally by the minute.
The election was stolen with not just one tactic, but with several.
Key points
"Black Box" Electronic Voting Machines The key to it all was the use of electronic voting machines, that produce no paper trail. These were manufactured mainly by the two companies ESS and Diebold. Both of
these companies are big supporters of the Republican Party. Walden O'Dell, the owner of Diebold, said in a 2003 fundraising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." Similarly, Chuck Hagel, the owner of ESS used his own machines to get elected to the United States Senate in Nebraska.
A bill was introduced in the House and Senate to outlaw these machines and require a paper printout of each vote so that they could be verified and/or recounted. The bill was stalled by the Republican Party, led by Senate Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and it was not allowed to come to vote.
Shortly after the November 2rd election, countless stories of problems with the machines began to surface. Many people tried to vote for Kerry and said that when the final confirmation screen came up it said they voted for Bush.
In one precinct in Ohio, 4,258 votes were given to Bush were there were only 638 registered voters. Many more stories about the black box voting machines, their problems, and the investigation into their tampering are circulating. Blackboxvoting.org is leading the way in the investigation to proving the results were tampered with.
Exit Polls
Exit polls were taken in every state. In those states that had verifiable paper trails for their ballots, the exit polls were virtually the same as the real results. However, in the states where electronic voting machines were used, the exit polls were mysteriously very different from the final reported totals. You can view the exit poll data directly yourself with the link at the bottom of this email.
Unusual Results
In the areas where computers were used to cast votes or tally them, some very strange results have surfaced. Here is just one example. In Baker County, Florida, there are 12,887 registered voters, 69.3% of them regsitered Democrats and 24.3% of them Republicans. The vote was only 2,180 for Kerry and 7,738 for Bush. Are we supposed to believe that 5 out of every 7 registered Democrats voted for Bush?
This pattern repeats itself in many Florida counties. You can view all the raw data for every Florida county at the link at the bottom of this email.
Shenanigans
In addition to the electronic voting machines, there was widespread voter intimidation and disenfranchisement on election day. In many democratic areas, people waited hours to vote, while Republicans "challenged" voters' rights to vote, forcing them to fill out a provisional ballot instead
of a real ballot.
The provisional ballots were not counted on election day and we may never know how many of them there were, or what rules will be used to qualify them. Flyers were sent to democratic areas with an array of false information on them. People were told their voting precinct had changed, that their voter registration was not valid, or that they would go to jail of they tried to vote. The list of shenanigans goes on
and on.
You can see the some of the flyers that were sent out and read about more of the shenanigans at the link at the bottom of this email.
Investigations
This is not conspiracy theory.
This is not hearsay.
There is evidence.
There are witnesses.
There are investigations underway.
Three Congressmen have sent a letter to the General Accountability Office requesting urgent action and an investigation. Ralph Nader is leading a consumer investigation into voter fraud countrywide, and has
already filed an official challenge to the voting results in New Hampshire.
You can read the letter to the GAO and more about Nader's efforts at the link below. They will call us sore losers. They will have their lawyers and computer experts too. They will refute the evidence. But the truth is on our side and we will prevail.
Here is the link to the information, if you would like to look into the details and become more aware of the biggest story about to break.
http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection
What we need now is for the information to get out to more people. The mainstream media will bury this until it's shoved down their throat.
So please forward this email to your friends and family. If every person tells 3 other people, everyone will know before the media decides to wake up.
Peace,
Gary Beckwith"
When actress Susan Sarandon appeared on the Bill Maher show over the weekend, he asked her what is the biggest issue we face as a nation.
Her reply was "voter fraud."
The usually knowledgeable Maher had no idea what she was talking about. When he asked, she replied: "Something BIG is about to happen."
What I'm about to tell you is going to be hard to swallow at first. But if you're like most of us, once you start looking at the evidence, you'll scrape yourself off the ceiling, put your eyeballs back in their sockets, and you'll try to figure out what to do. So here it is.
The highest crime in the history of our country took place on November 2nd. The evidence is now mounting (into a HUGE mountain) that the election was stolen. There is already a congressional investigation underway and a consumer investigation (headed by Ralph Nader).
Electronic voting machines that were manufactured by supporters of the Republican Party were used to alter the will of the people.
The internet message boards and chat rooms are bursting with talk about this. You can wait another couple days to hear about it in the mainstream media, or you can read on. Just remember where you heard it first.
I will outline the key points in this email and provide a link with much more information at the bottom. More information is coming out literally by the minute.
The election was stolen with not just one tactic, but with several.
Key points
"Black Box" Electronic Voting Machines The key to it all was the use of electronic voting machines, that produce no paper trail. These were manufactured mainly by the two companies ESS and Diebold. Both of
these companies are big supporters of the Republican Party. Walden O'Dell, the owner of Diebold, said in a 2003 fundraising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." Similarly, Chuck Hagel, the owner of ESS used his own machines to get elected to the United States Senate in Nebraska.
A bill was introduced in the House and Senate to outlaw these machines and require a paper printout of each vote so that they could be verified and/or recounted. The bill was stalled by the Republican Party, led by Senate Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and it was not allowed to come to vote.
Shortly after the November 2rd election, countless stories of problems with the machines began to surface. Many people tried to vote for Kerry and said that when the final confirmation screen came up it said they voted for Bush.
In one precinct in Ohio, 4,258 votes were given to Bush were there were only 638 registered voters. Many more stories about the black box voting machines, their problems, and the investigation into their tampering are circulating. Blackboxvoting.org is leading the way in the investigation to proving the results were tampered with.
Exit Polls
Exit polls were taken in every state. In those states that had verifiable paper trails for their ballots, the exit polls were virtually the same as the real results. However, in the states where electronic voting machines were used, the exit polls were mysteriously very different from the final reported totals. You can view the exit poll data directly yourself with the link at the bottom of this email.
Unusual Results
In the areas where computers were used to cast votes or tally them, some very strange results have surfaced. Here is just one example. In Baker County, Florida, there are 12,887 registered voters, 69.3% of them regsitered Democrats and 24.3% of them Republicans. The vote was only 2,180 for Kerry and 7,738 for Bush. Are we supposed to believe that 5 out of every 7 registered Democrats voted for Bush?
This pattern repeats itself in many Florida counties. You can view all the raw data for every Florida county at the link at the bottom of this email.
Shenanigans
In addition to the electronic voting machines, there was widespread voter intimidation and disenfranchisement on election day. In many democratic areas, people waited hours to vote, while Republicans "challenged" voters' rights to vote, forcing them to fill out a provisional ballot instead
of a real ballot.
The provisional ballots were not counted on election day and we may never know how many of them there were, or what rules will be used to qualify them. Flyers were sent to democratic areas with an array of false information on them. People were told their voting precinct had changed, that their voter registration was not valid, or that they would go to jail of they tried to vote. The list of shenanigans goes on
and on.
You can see the some of the flyers that were sent out and read about more of the shenanigans at the link at the bottom of this email.
Investigations
This is not conspiracy theory.
This is not hearsay.
There is evidence.
There are witnesses.
There are investigations underway.
Three Congressmen have sent a letter to the General Accountability Office requesting urgent action and an investigation. Ralph Nader is leading a consumer investigation into voter fraud countrywide, and has
already filed an official challenge to the voting results in New Hampshire.
You can read the letter to the GAO and more about Nader's efforts at the link below. They will call us sore losers. They will have their lawyers and computer experts too. They will refute the evidence. But the truth is on our side and we will prevail.
Here is the link to the information, if you would like to look into the details and become more aware of the biggest story about to break.
http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection
What we need now is for the information to get out to more people. The mainstream media will bury this until it's shoved down their throat.
So please forward this email to your friends and family. If every person tells 3 other people, everyone will know before the media decides to wake up.
Peace,
Gary Beckwith"
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
the personals are getting fiesty
you know, i've never been desperate enough to use the personals, but this seems like a good idea.....
Straight male seeks...
Straight male seeks...
i'm sorry....
valuable equipment if you plan on leaving the country soon......
Traveler Apology Shirt > American Traveler International Apology | CafePress
Traveler Apology Shirt > American Traveler International Apology | CafePress
Sunday, November 07, 2004
voter fraud everywhere!
From: start the revolution
Date: Nov 6, 2004 01:16 PM
This election had nothing to do with values or a poorly run Kerry campaign. The Democrats were victims of massive voter fraud via electronic voting machines and other methods. The exit polls weren’t wrong. Right now the GAO, House Democrats, Black Box Voting and even Ralph Nader are investigating. Please forward these links to the media, family and friends. Don't give up the fight.
1. States using e-voting gave Bush mysterious 5% advantage
http://www.newstarget.com/002076.html
2.Electronic voting in Ohio gave bush thousands of extra votes
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041105/ap_on_el_pr/voting_problems
3. Ohio officials block public from observing vote count
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/11/05/loc_warrenvote05.html
4. Voting machines in Florida count backward
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/news/epaper/2004/11/05/a29a_BROWVOTE_1105.html
5. Bizarre Florida results, county by county
http://ustogether.org/Florida_Election.htm
6. Black Box Voting declares fraud via electronic voting machines
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
7. Exit polls data: accurate except in counties using electronic voting machines
http://img103.exs.cx/img103/4526/exit_poll.gif
8. Did Kerry concede too soon?
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/981
9. Why Kerry really won, by Greg Palast, contributing editor to Harper's and the BBC, and author of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.”
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won_.php
10. Was the Ohio election honest and fair?
http://www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR110304.htm
11. Why the election was stolen, by Mark Crispin Miller, media critic, professor of communications at New York University, and author, most recently, of "Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order." (from Salon.com)
First of all, this election was definitely rigged. I have no doubt about it. It's a statistical impossibility that Bush got 8 million more votes than he got last time. In 2000, he got 15 million votes from right-wing Christians, and there are approximately 19 million of them in the country. They were eager to get the other 4 million. That was pretty much Karl Rove's strategy to get Bush elected.
But given Bush's low popularity ratings and the enormous number of new voters -- who skewed Democratic -- there is no way in the world that Bush got 8 million more votes this time. I think it had a lot to do with the electronic voting machines. Those machines are completely untrustworthy, and that's why the Republicans use them. Then there's the fact that the immediate claim of Ohio was not contested by the news media -- when Andrew Card came out and claimed the state, not only were the votes in Ohio not counted, they weren't even all cast.
I would have to hear a much stronger argument for the authenticity, or I should say the veracity, of this popular vote for Bush before I'm willing to believe it. If someone can prove to me that it happened, that Bush somehow pulled 8 million magic votes out of a hat, OK, I'll accept it. I'm an independent, not a Democrat, and I'm not living in denial.
And that's not even talking about Florida, which is about as Democratic a state as Guatemala used to be. The news media is obliged to make the Republicans account for all these votes, and account for the way they were counted. Simply to embrace this result as definitive is irrational. But there is every reason to question it ... I find it beyond belief that the press in this formerly democratic country would not have made the integrity of the electoral system a front page, top-of-the-line story for the last three years. I worked and worked and worked to get that story into the media, and no one touched it until your guy did.
I actually got invited to a Kerry fundraiser so I could talk to him about it. I raised the issue directly with him and with Teresa. Teresa was really indignant and really concerned, but Kerry just looked down at me -- he's about 9 feet tall -- and I could tell it just didn't register. It set off all his conspiracy-theory alarms and he just wasn't listening.
Talk to anyone from a real democracy -- from Canada or any European country or India. They are staggered to discover that 80 percent of our touch-screen electronic voting machines have no paper trail and are manufactured by companies owned by Bush Republicans. But there is very little sense of outrage here. Americans for a host of reasons have become alienated from the spirit of the Bill of Rights and that should not be tolerated.
Date: Nov 6, 2004 01:16 PM
This election had nothing to do with values or a poorly run Kerry campaign. The Democrats were victims of massive voter fraud via electronic voting machines and other methods. The exit polls weren’t wrong. Right now the GAO, House Democrats, Black Box Voting and even Ralph Nader are investigating. Please forward these links to the media, family and friends. Don't give up the fight.
1. States using e-voting gave Bush mysterious 5% advantage
http://www.newstarget.com/002076.html
2.Electronic voting in Ohio gave bush thousands of extra votes
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041105/ap_on_el_pr/voting_problems
3. Ohio officials block public from observing vote count
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/11/05/loc_warrenvote05.html
4. Voting machines in Florida count backward
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/news/epaper/2004/11/05/a29a_BROWVOTE_1105.html
5. Bizarre Florida results, county by county
http://ustogether.org/Florida_Election.htm
6. Black Box Voting declares fraud via electronic voting machines
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
7. Exit polls data: accurate except in counties using electronic voting machines
http://img103.exs.cx/img103/4526/exit_poll.gif
8. Did Kerry concede too soon?
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/981
9. Why Kerry really won, by Greg Palast, contributing editor to Harper's and the BBC, and author of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.”
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won_.php
10. Was the Ohio election honest and fair?
http://www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR110304.htm
11. Why the election was stolen, by Mark Crispin Miller, media critic, professor of communications at New York University, and author, most recently, of "Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order." (from Salon.com)
First of all, this election was definitely rigged. I have no doubt about it. It's a statistical impossibility that Bush got 8 million more votes than he got last time. In 2000, he got 15 million votes from right-wing Christians, and there are approximately 19 million of them in the country. They were eager to get the other 4 million. That was pretty much Karl Rove's strategy to get Bush elected.
But given Bush's low popularity ratings and the enormous number of new voters -- who skewed Democratic -- there is no way in the world that Bush got 8 million more votes this time. I think it had a lot to do with the electronic voting machines. Those machines are completely untrustworthy, and that's why the Republicans use them. Then there's the fact that the immediate claim of Ohio was not contested by the news media -- when Andrew Card came out and claimed the state, not only were the votes in Ohio not counted, they weren't even all cast.
I would have to hear a much stronger argument for the authenticity, or I should say the veracity, of this popular vote for Bush before I'm willing to believe it. If someone can prove to me that it happened, that Bush somehow pulled 8 million magic votes out of a hat, OK, I'll accept it. I'm an independent, not a Democrat, and I'm not living in denial.
And that's not even talking about Florida, which is about as Democratic a state as Guatemala used to be. The news media is obliged to make the Republicans account for all these votes, and account for the way they were counted. Simply to embrace this result as definitive is irrational. But there is every reason to question it ... I find it beyond belief that the press in this formerly democratic country would not have made the integrity of the electoral system a front page, top-of-the-line story for the last three years. I worked and worked and worked to get that story into the media, and no one touched it until your guy did.
I actually got invited to a Kerry fundraiser so I could talk to him about it. I raised the issue directly with him and with Teresa. Teresa was really indignant and really concerned, but Kerry just looked down at me -- he's about 9 feet tall -- and I could tell it just didn't register. It set off all his conspiracy-theory alarms and he just wasn't listening.
Talk to anyone from a real democracy -- from Canada or any European country or India. They are staggered to discover that 80 percent of our touch-screen electronic voting machines have no paper trail and are manufactured by companies owned by Bush Republicans. But there is very little sense of outrage here. Americans for a host of reasons have become alienated from the spirit of the Bill of Rights and that should not be tolerated.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Thursday, November 04, 2004
...and we're not surprised
this is a repost from a list i frequent. penned by a sharp and engaging acquaintance of mine.
"Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:32 pm Post subject: ...and yet I'm not surprised
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Shrub won. Supposedly. I have visions of pre-filled ballots, stored Monday, all for straight republican tickets; then when straight democratic ballots reached a certain tonnage, they'd be substituted with the pre-made ballots.
Here's my greatest paranoia on the subject: Kerry was the Republican choice for Democratic nominee. Who better to run against, than someone so readily questionable? With the attention span of most people, just hearing the questions about him was enough.
There were stronger candidates before the primaries, yet the man who must constantly defend against accusations of waffling, lying about his war record, and his voting record, got the nomination.
The "I have a scream" fiasco that ended Dean's campaign has been revealed to be an unkind mistake on the part of ABC news.
abc1
abc2
I seem to recall that, before this event, nearly everyone I knew was voting for this man. What an easy way to ruin a candidate: bad editing to make him seem crazy....
Leaving us with Kerry. Fence sitters are notorious for not voting out an incumbant in a clear cut case of the Lesser of Two Evils.
Now the Nader question: there isn't one. The third party vote in Florida, ALL 6 Third Parties, did not add up to 1/10 the difference between Bush and Kerry's popular vote.
Once again, we've been had, but not the way I think everyone sees it.
I hear a lot of talk of leaving, and renouncing citizenship. I say go if you want, or need (those eligible for the coming draft, especially). I'm going to try and stick it out. I want to watch the fires.
Besides, someone has to keep a record... "
thank you, c
"Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:32 pm Post subject: ...and yet I'm not surprised
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Shrub won. Supposedly. I have visions of pre-filled ballots, stored Monday, all for straight republican tickets; then when straight democratic ballots reached a certain tonnage, they'd be substituted with the pre-made ballots.
Here's my greatest paranoia on the subject: Kerry was the Republican choice for Democratic nominee. Who better to run against, than someone so readily questionable? With the attention span of most people, just hearing the questions about him was enough.
There were stronger candidates before the primaries, yet the man who must constantly defend against accusations of waffling, lying about his war record, and his voting record, got the nomination.
The "I have a scream" fiasco that ended Dean's campaign has been revealed to be an unkind mistake on the part of ABC news.
abc1
abc2
I seem to recall that, before this event, nearly everyone I knew was voting for this man. What an easy way to ruin a candidate: bad editing to make him seem crazy....
Leaving us with Kerry. Fence sitters are notorious for not voting out an incumbant in a clear cut case of the Lesser of Two Evils.
Now the Nader question: there isn't one. The third party vote in Florida, ALL 6 Third Parties, did not add up to 1/10 the difference between Bush and Kerry's popular vote.
Once again, we've been had, but not the way I think everyone sees it.
I hear a lot of talk of leaving, and renouncing citizenship. I say go if you want, or need (those eligible for the coming draft, especially). I'm going to try and stick it out. I want to watch the fires.
Besides, someone has to keep a record... "
thank you, c
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
post election blues
no surprise, the country goes to hell in a handbasket and i start bloggin' again.
this is insane. i am angry and frustrated, disappointed and embarrassed.
i've just read accounts on michael moore's website of voting incidences all over the country that lead me to believe the worst. voters expected of casting for dems turned away, discouraged, made to jump through so many hoops they give up.
i'm ashamed to be an american today. freedom is a farce. democracy is the fake rabbit on the track we all race after but can never catch. we're led to believe we have a choice so we remain pacified. this really is a monarchy is disguise.
feh.
this is insane. i am angry and frustrated, disappointed and embarrassed.
i've just read accounts on michael moore's website of voting incidences all over the country that lead me to believe the worst. voters expected of casting for dems turned away, discouraged, made to jump through so many hoops they give up.
i'm ashamed to be an american today. freedom is a farce. democracy is the fake rabbit on the track we all race after but can never catch. we're led to believe we have a choice so we remain pacified. this really is a monarchy is disguise.
feh.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Sunday, October 31, 2004
VOTING FRAUD IN TEXAS - SURPRISE!
i also heard they "lost" 60,000 absentee ballots in florida. hmmm......
Here's an important heads up ...
Yesterday a friend voted early at a polling location in Austin, TX. She voted straight Democratic. When she did the final check, lo and behold every vote was for the Democratic candidates except that it showed she had voted for Bush/Cheney for president/vice pres.
She immediately got a poll official. On her vote, it was corrected. She called the Travis County Democratic headquarters.
They took all her information, and told her that she wasn't the first to report a similar incident and that they are looking into it.
So check before you leave the polling booth, and if anything is wrong, get it corrected immediately. Report any irregularities to your local Democratic headquarters. Make sure you pass this along to your friends ... hopefully this is all over the airwaves by tomorrow ...
The Texas voting fraud is for real.
I called the Austin office (Dem. Nat. Comm.) 512-637-1737
and they said that it has been happening a lot. They don't know why but the machines seem more "sensitive" this year and that every voter MUST check their summary as the presidential choice often rolls over to the republican choice if you vote straight
democrat
Here is their website.
http://www.democrats.org/
and their main . in DC 202-863-8000
Here's an important heads up ...
Yesterday a friend voted early at a polling location in Austin, TX. She voted straight Democratic. When she did the final check, lo and behold every vote was for the Democratic candidates except that it showed she had voted for Bush/Cheney for president/vice pres.
She immediately got a poll official. On her vote, it was corrected. She called the Travis County Democratic headquarters.
They took all her information, and told her that she wasn't the first to report a similar incident and that they are looking into it.
So check before you leave the polling booth, and if anything is wrong, get it corrected immediately. Report any irregularities to your local Democratic headquarters. Make sure you pass this along to your friends ... hopefully this is all over the airwaves by tomorrow ...
The Texas voting fraud is for real.
I called the Austin office (Dem. Nat. Comm.) 512-637-1737
and they said that it has been happening a lot. They don't know why but the machines seem more "sensitive" this year and that every voter MUST check their summary as the presidential choice often rolls over to the republican choice if you vote straight
democrat
Here is their website.
http://www.democrats.org/
and their main . in DC 202-863-8000
Friday, October 08, 2004
tales from the road
day 1
we were supposed to leave in the morning on friday. well, actually the original departure date was set for tuesday, but because i do not have any talent in regards to managing time, or packing for that matter, the day got pushed forward, and pushed forward, as boxes spread out before me like injured soldiers waiting for their bandages. bit by bit they got put together, and stacked, but then there was artemis. my motorcycle was not 100 percent this summer. procrastination ruling, i decided the clutch and drive chain needed redoing before i left and lost my most valuable resource, byke guru jamie. the clutch job went smoothly in two hours. the chain didn't fit. i returned it to the shop on wednesday to be broken. of course i measured incorrectly and it was still too long. at this point james realized the dremel can get said job done and he hopped to it, blowing off work on thursday so the byke can get done and get on the damn truck first, other various and sundry belongings following in its wake.
ahhhh, so friday the truck was packed with most of my crap, minus bunny, bed, and last minute items. the u-haul (a 17 foot behemoth of a truck with a trailer attached for benny the benz, which from here on shall be referred to as 'the beast') was at phil's being loaded with his shit. the dismantling of the bed and desk was yet to happen. i had a killer headache and my spine was threatening mutiny. the revolt was completed after moving the futon and glass desktop teamstrap sandwich with team-straps. my left hip said 'fuck you, christine', pinched my sciatic nerve, and stood back on its heels, arms folded. i said 'fuck you, i'm moving, break later' and kept going. the couch was not as bad as i thought. thank christ i've been a landscaper all summer.
we finished loading at 3:30 and sped off to the farmhouse for the mattress.
we left my headboard on his front lawn in newmarket. fie.
okay so plan b - load my mattress and last minute gear, including the 750 ml bottle of vodka cordial i made up with honey, lemon and ginger, and the 16 or so bottles left of my homebrew ipa. this is to be a well-lubricated road trip, mind you. then go to spew-haul and attach the dolly apparatus and benny. then we split up - i to my house to get my car to make a trip to walmart for an ethernet cable so we can be wired up with my laptop in hotels that have internet access so you can read these installments in stages like they're meant for. meanwhile, phil will be going back to newmarket for the head board, and we'll rendezvous at the liquor store in the traffic circle, where he'll then follow me to nana's house in arlington, ma where my car will be dropped off. then the real trip will begin.
phil drops me off at my house. i prepare the bunny and place him in my car. it's 6 pm. i have no keys. they are in the beast which is currently en-route to newmarket. fie! i call his mom and let her know phil's got the keys to my car in his possession and he needs to come back here. i then pour myself a well-deserved beer, gazing out into the stone room as i do so and i notice........half of phil's PA sitting there, forlorn and forgotten. two speakers and a board. oh, and my lamp. everything happens for a reason.
he gets to my house at 7:30. we say fuck walmart and drive to nana's, an interesting experience. i'm not used to having to worry about people following me, especially trucks with trailers. the merge onto 93 south was an experience. i thought phil was going to kill me.
8:30 we get to nana's. she is in true freak show form, trying to make me take five grocery bags of crap she's prepared for me. i said "there is no room in the truck" maybe 12 times. high strung, she feeds us coffee and runs around the house trying to give me things. 'no' is the word of the day. if you know my grandmother, you will realize it is a great feat to defy her will. italian-born catholic taurus, she is more stubborn than a drunken tourist at last call. finally manage to pacify her by taking the gallon of water she is offering. and the 50 bucks, that doesn't take up much space. she makes phil promise to make me call her, after sufficiently embarrassing me by asking him for his parents phone number so 'in case anything happens' the chain of communication from california to home will be complete. he bears it well. she cries three times, i shove down the wellspring of guilt, and escape at 9:30.
alright so we're exhausted and stressed, caffeinated and nicotined, driving through the whole east coast in the middle of the night. massachusetts, connecticut, new york, new jersey, basically everything i don't need to see int he light of day. phil refuses to rest his head on a pillow located anywhere in new jersey, and i can't say i blame him. we push through to pennsylvania. the first hotel where you have to walk by the front desk to get to your room doesn't accept bunnies. at the second hotel i don't bother asking. i cover his 1' x 2' x 2' pet carrier with my jacket, barely, and walk on in. of course while i am being oh-so-slick the counter girl walks by me and says,
"you better hide that on your way out."
i still don't know if she was talking about the bunny or the machete half hanging out of my army pack.
we went upstairs and passed out at 5 am.
day 2
wake at 12:30. shower. i am seriously lamenting that my flexerils are packed in a box in the belly of the beast. my back hurts so bad i can barely put my socks on. there's a coffee maker that produces a meager 6 oz per person. it's better than nana's chock full o' nuts, though. 60 dollars of gas to fill the beast. breakfast at the starlight diner across the street, garish in its neon and chrome. the waitress is tired, probably nearing the end of her double, but is pleasant enough. we plot our course, definite as far as knoxville, variable after that, depending on whether we decide to make a huge detour down into n'awlins. let's try to explain that one on the expense report, shall we?. on the road again at 4:40 - something.
the squeezable burping pig is for good cop chi. the squeezable cartman with a drink umbrella is for good tire chi. there are innumerable cops and blown out tires in pennsylvania.
hershey, pennsylvania, going south on 81
"warning, the bridge may be icy"
in october, when it's 70?
6:23 pm - we cross into maryland, and shortly thereafter, west virginia, (yes jamie, west virginia) where we stop at, would you believe it, a wal-mart to get an ethernet cable. geeks on the road have their priorities. in order to have palatable tunes on the way, we've hooked up my laptop to the dc inverter and got the computer speakers bouncing around the cab. this is cumbersome. we need duct tape. with speakers sufficiently strapped down to the middle seat's backrest above the bunny, we be wired.
7:46 - we cross into virginia. we're gonna be in this state for a while. i roll a joint for the first time in years. we crash at a days inn in roanoke, order pizza, drink homebrew, and watch bad movies on hbo. fun times.
day 3
my back sucks in the am. i'm gonna try and find a chiropractor tomorrow wherever we may be, cause there ain't no way i'm riding a mule to the bottom of the grand canyon with this spine. we're back on the road at 12:30. in tennessee by mid-afternoon. we start listening to neal stephenson's 'snow crash' on mp3. phil is amused.
there are three huge crosses on a hill near christiansburg.
we decide the third engineer, the silicon graphics systems squeezy penguin with the tacks in his head serving as antennae is slacking. he needs a job. i duct tape the st. christopher's medal given to me by miss deb murray to his front. thusly the sgi penguin is now for general good travel chi.
i drive the monstrosity for a while in between knoxville and memphis. i do ok but my spine doesn't like it. we stop at about 10:30 at a hampton inn and are relegated to eating dinner at an ihop - it's the only thing open. we have to start stopping for supper earlier. i git a hankerin' for real southern barbecue.
day 4
we've passed over the wolf river where jeff buckley drowned but i don't realize it until i'm poring over the map later as we're crossing the great brown mississippi. we didn't have the time to stop anyways - got a late start today at about 2:30 pm. it's alright, i'll be back this way someday. arkansas is pretty, but very flat. reminds me of the sod fields in berwick maine, but browner.
in kentucky you can buy handguns in convenience stores.
in arkansas you can buy big cheap taiwanese knives at the gas station.
4:26 pm - the double trailer truck in front of us just blew one of his tires. i squeeze cartman frantically.
some crazy dude in a bimbobox just turned around on the highway by pulling a u-turn right over the grassy, ditchy median. arkansasians are nutty.
5:05 pm - sudden stoppage on 40 west. repaving roads.
arkansas was fucking boring. i can't tell if oklahoma is any better cause it's dark now. so this is where my ancestors that were forced to leave the beauty of the great smokey mountains ended up. i would have cried too. the cherokee that are left in north carolina are the ones that ran into the hills and mountains to hide, instead of embarking on the trail of tears. from speaking with them when i was there a few years back, i got the impression they don't hold their oklahoma brethren in very high esteem - that they think they should not have left their land.
dinner at a diner cause there's nothing else but mcdonalds and hardees out here. we are sick of road food. i would give anything for a goddamn health food store.
an old, maybe in his 50's, disheveled guy in leathers and a do-rag sits next to us. i instantaneously recognize him as a biker. he's got that weathered, covered in road grime look about him, which means my age judgment could be way off. exposing yourself to the elements like a rider does gives you an aged look, so he could be anywhere from 35 to 60 for all i know. by way of a greeting he asks us if we're riding. i say not today. he tells me a story about how he was at a bike rally in memphis (damn i missed it) and he's on his way to some place near dallas. his bike broke down a ways back and it cost him over 100 bucks to fix it. he blew a gasket and his chopper 's spewing oil. he shows me his oil-splattered left boot. he's out of gas money. it'll take him at least 20 bucks to make it home. i believe him and give him two bucks. maybe it's cause he reminds me of what jamie would look like in 19 or 15 years and had a southern accent.
there's a town called gore, oklahoma.
i dunno where the hell we stayed that night. somewhere in oklahoma not too far from texas. the only available room in the best western was a two bedroom suite. it was like staying in an apartment. the bunny kept going after my bourbon. i think he's a drunk.
day 5
oklahomans have a staring problem.
the purple stuffed puppy engineer finally has a job now as well. he is for good roadkill chi, i.e., no roadkill. we saw some unidentified furry thing on the side of the road.
i drive today. texas is flat, brown, red, and green. i mean flat. i could see cows and sky. great big sky. it's cloudy and threatening rain. we stop at dyer's bbq in amarillo and have the first semblance of a real meal in days. the sky is ominous and beautiful. it starts spitting at us a few hours into the drive. phil passes out before we hit new mexico and misses the great thunderstorm. i've never seen lightning this huge. it fills me with awe and makes me feel very small.
it's night now and the road has begun to vertically undulate. i have a feeling i'm missing some beautiful landscape in the dark.
we were supposed to leave in the morning on friday. well, actually the original departure date was set for tuesday, but because i do not have any talent in regards to managing time, or packing for that matter, the day got pushed forward, and pushed forward, as boxes spread out before me like injured soldiers waiting for their bandages. bit by bit they got put together, and stacked, but then there was artemis. my motorcycle was not 100 percent this summer. procrastination ruling, i decided the clutch and drive chain needed redoing before i left and lost my most valuable resource, byke guru jamie. the clutch job went smoothly in two hours. the chain didn't fit. i returned it to the shop on wednesday to be broken. of course i measured incorrectly and it was still too long. at this point james realized the dremel can get said job done and he hopped to it, blowing off work on thursday so the byke can get done and get on the damn truck first, other various and sundry belongings following in its wake.
ahhhh, so friday the truck was packed with most of my crap, minus bunny, bed, and last minute items. the u-haul (a 17 foot behemoth of a truck with a trailer attached for benny the benz, which from here on shall be referred to as 'the beast') was at phil's being loaded with his shit. the dismantling of the bed and desk was yet to happen. i had a killer headache and my spine was threatening mutiny. the revolt was completed after moving the futon and glass desktop teamstrap sandwich with team-straps. my left hip said 'fuck you, christine', pinched my sciatic nerve, and stood back on its heels, arms folded. i said 'fuck you, i'm moving, break later' and kept going. the couch was not as bad as i thought. thank christ i've been a landscaper all summer.
we finished loading at 3:30 and sped off to the farmhouse for the mattress.
we left my headboard on his front lawn in newmarket. fie.
okay so plan b - load my mattress and last minute gear, including the 750 ml bottle of vodka cordial i made up with honey, lemon and ginger, and the 16 or so bottles left of my homebrew ipa. this is to be a well-lubricated road trip, mind you. then go to spew-haul and attach the dolly apparatus and benny. then we split up - i to my house to get my car to make a trip to walmart for an ethernet cable so we can be wired up with my laptop in hotels that have internet access so you can read these installments in stages like they're meant for. meanwhile, phil will be going back to newmarket for the head board, and we'll rendezvous at the liquor store in the traffic circle, where he'll then follow me to nana's house in arlington, ma where my car will be dropped off. then the real trip will begin.
phil drops me off at my house. i prepare the bunny and place him in my car. it's 6 pm. i have no keys. they are in the beast which is currently en-route to newmarket. fie! i call his mom and let her know phil's got the keys to my car in his possession and he needs to come back here. i then pour myself a well-deserved beer, gazing out into the stone room as i do so and i notice........half of phil's PA sitting there, forlorn and forgotten. two speakers and a board. oh, and my lamp. everything happens for a reason.
he gets to my house at 7:30. we say fuck walmart and drive to nana's, an interesting experience. i'm not used to having to worry about people following me, especially trucks with trailers. the merge onto 93 south was an experience. i thought phil was going to kill me.
8:30 we get to nana's. she is in true freak show form, trying to make me take five grocery bags of crap she's prepared for me. i said "there is no room in the truck" maybe 12 times. high strung, she feeds us coffee and runs around the house trying to give me things. 'no' is the word of the day. if you know my grandmother, you will realize it is a great feat to defy her will. italian-born catholic taurus, she is more stubborn than a drunken tourist at last call. finally manage to pacify her by taking the gallon of water she is offering. and the 50 bucks, that doesn't take up much space. she makes phil promise to make me call her, after sufficiently embarrassing me by asking him for his parents phone number so 'in case anything happens' the chain of communication from california to home will be complete. he bears it well. she cries three times, i shove down the wellspring of guilt, and escape at 9:30.
alright so we're exhausted and stressed, caffeinated and nicotined, driving through the whole east coast in the middle of the night. massachusetts, connecticut, new york, new jersey, basically everything i don't need to see int he light of day. phil refuses to rest his head on a pillow located anywhere in new jersey, and i can't say i blame him. we push through to pennsylvania. the first hotel where you have to walk by the front desk to get to your room doesn't accept bunnies. at the second hotel i don't bother asking. i cover his 1' x 2' x 2' pet carrier with my jacket, barely, and walk on in. of course while i am being oh-so-slick the counter girl walks by me and says,
"you better hide that on your way out."
i still don't know if she was talking about the bunny or the machete half hanging out of my army pack.
we went upstairs and passed out at 5 am.
day 2
wake at 12:30. shower. i am seriously lamenting that my flexerils are packed in a box in the belly of the beast. my back hurts so bad i can barely put my socks on. there's a coffee maker that produces a meager 6 oz per person. it's better than nana's chock full o' nuts, though. 60 dollars of gas to fill the beast. breakfast at the starlight diner across the street, garish in its neon and chrome. the waitress is tired, probably nearing the end of her double, but is pleasant enough. we plot our course, definite as far as knoxville, variable after that, depending on whether we decide to make a huge detour down into n'awlins. let's try to explain that one on the expense report, shall we?. on the road again at 4:40 - something.
the squeezable burping pig is for good cop chi. the squeezable cartman with a drink umbrella is for good tire chi. there are innumerable cops and blown out tires in pennsylvania.
hershey, pennsylvania, going south on 81
"warning, the bridge may be icy"
in october, when it's 70?
6:23 pm - we cross into maryland, and shortly thereafter, west virginia, (yes jamie, west virginia) where we stop at, would you believe it, a wal-mart to get an ethernet cable. geeks on the road have their priorities. in order to have palatable tunes on the way, we've hooked up my laptop to the dc inverter and got the computer speakers bouncing around the cab. this is cumbersome. we need duct tape. with speakers sufficiently strapped down to the middle seat's backrest above the bunny, we be wired.
7:46 - we cross into virginia. we're gonna be in this state for a while. i roll a joint for the first time in years. we crash at a days inn in roanoke, order pizza, drink homebrew, and watch bad movies on hbo. fun times.
day 3
my back sucks in the am. i'm gonna try and find a chiropractor tomorrow wherever we may be, cause there ain't no way i'm riding a mule to the bottom of the grand canyon with this spine. we're back on the road at 12:30. in tennessee by mid-afternoon. we start listening to neal stephenson's 'snow crash' on mp3. phil is amused.
there are three huge crosses on a hill near christiansburg.
we decide the third engineer, the silicon graphics systems squeezy penguin with the tacks in his head serving as antennae is slacking. he needs a job. i duct tape the st. christopher's medal given to me by miss deb murray to his front. thusly the sgi penguin is now for general good travel chi.
i drive the monstrosity for a while in between knoxville and memphis. i do ok but my spine doesn't like it. we stop at about 10:30 at a hampton inn and are relegated to eating dinner at an ihop - it's the only thing open. we have to start stopping for supper earlier. i git a hankerin' for real southern barbecue.
day 4
we've passed over the wolf river where jeff buckley drowned but i don't realize it until i'm poring over the map later as we're crossing the great brown mississippi. we didn't have the time to stop anyways - got a late start today at about 2:30 pm. it's alright, i'll be back this way someday. arkansas is pretty, but very flat. reminds me of the sod fields in berwick maine, but browner.
in kentucky you can buy handguns in convenience stores.
in arkansas you can buy big cheap taiwanese knives at the gas station.
4:26 pm - the double trailer truck in front of us just blew one of his tires. i squeeze cartman frantically.
some crazy dude in a bimbobox just turned around on the highway by pulling a u-turn right over the grassy, ditchy median. arkansasians are nutty.
5:05 pm - sudden stoppage on 40 west. repaving roads.
arkansas was fucking boring. i can't tell if oklahoma is any better cause it's dark now. so this is where my ancestors that were forced to leave the beauty of the great smokey mountains ended up. i would have cried too. the cherokee that are left in north carolina are the ones that ran into the hills and mountains to hide, instead of embarking on the trail of tears. from speaking with them when i was there a few years back, i got the impression they don't hold their oklahoma brethren in very high esteem - that they think they should not have left their land.
dinner at a diner cause there's nothing else but mcdonalds and hardees out here. we are sick of road food. i would give anything for a goddamn health food store.
an old, maybe in his 50's, disheveled guy in leathers and a do-rag sits next to us. i instantaneously recognize him as a biker. he's got that weathered, covered in road grime look about him, which means my age judgment could be way off. exposing yourself to the elements like a rider does gives you an aged look, so he could be anywhere from 35 to 60 for all i know. by way of a greeting he asks us if we're riding. i say not today. he tells me a story about how he was at a bike rally in memphis (damn i missed it) and he's on his way to some place near dallas. his bike broke down a ways back and it cost him over 100 bucks to fix it. he blew a gasket and his chopper 's spewing oil. he shows me his oil-splattered left boot. he's out of gas money. it'll take him at least 20 bucks to make it home. i believe him and give him two bucks. maybe it's cause he reminds me of what jamie would look like in 19 or 15 years and had a southern accent.
there's a town called gore, oklahoma.
i dunno where the hell we stayed that night. somewhere in oklahoma not too far from texas. the only available room in the best western was a two bedroom suite. it was like staying in an apartment. the bunny kept going after my bourbon. i think he's a drunk.
day 5
oklahomans have a staring problem.
the purple stuffed puppy engineer finally has a job now as well. he is for good roadkill chi, i.e., no roadkill. we saw some unidentified furry thing on the side of the road.
i drive today. texas is flat, brown, red, and green. i mean flat. i could see cows and sky. great big sky. it's cloudy and threatening rain. we stop at dyer's bbq in amarillo and have the first semblance of a real meal in days. the sky is ominous and beautiful. it starts spitting at us a few hours into the drive. phil passes out before we hit new mexico and misses the great thunderstorm. i've never seen lightning this huge. it fills me with awe and makes me feel very small.
it's night now and the road has begun to vertically undulate. i have a feeling i'm missing some beautiful landscape in the dark.
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
bu$$shit
guess my hiatus is over. see what happens when i start reading the news again? i get angry and frustrated, which of course leads to blogging. more personal updates later - at least you know i'm still alive and didn't get run down by the tractor or anything. this is a bunch of shite. go tell the gov't you think so.
Important - Women's Health Issue
Whether you're Right or Left on the issue of women's reproductive rights, please consider the following...
President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for more than two years, during which time its charter has lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is tasked with filling all eleven positions with new members. This position does not require Congressional approval.
The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee makes crucial decisions on matters relating to drugs used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and related specialties, including hormone therapy, contraception, treatment for infertility, and medical alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization and pregnancy termination. Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream and a setback for reproductive technology.
Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends biblical accounts of Christ healing women with case studies from Hager's practice. In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and the Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome should seek help from reading the bible and praying. As an editor and contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality, Reproductive Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.
Hagar's mission is religiously motivated. He has an ardent interest in revoking approval for mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) as a safe and early form of medical abortion. Hagar recently assisted the Christian Medical Association in a "citizen's petition" which calls upon the FDA to revoke its approval of mifepristone in the name of women's health.
Hager's desire to overturn mifepristone's approval on religious grounds rather than scientific merit would halt the development of mifepristone as a treatment for numerous medical conditions disproportionately affecting women, including breast cancer, uterine cancer, uterine fibroid tumors, psychotic depression, bipolar depression and Cushing's syndrome. Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe and effective drugs for reproductive health care including products that prevent pregnancy.
For some women, such as those with certain types of diabetes and those undergoing treatment for cancer, pregnancy can be a life-threatening condition. We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color his assessment of technologies that are necessary to protect women's lives or to preserve and promote women's health. Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to guide his medical decision-making makes him a dangerous and inappropriate candidate to serve as chair of this committee. Critical drug public policy and research must not be held hostage by antiabortion politics. Members of this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science and medicine, rather than politics and religion. American women deserve no less.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
1. SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
2. OPPOSE THE PLACEMENT OF THIS MAN BY CONTACTING THE WHITE HOUSE AND TELL THEM HE IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE ON ANY LEVEL.
Please email President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov or call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or (202) 456-1414 and say "I oppose the appointment of Dr. Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Mixing religion and medicine is unacceptable. Using the FDA to promote a political agenda is inappropriate and seriously threatens all women's health."
Important - Women's Health Issue
Whether you're Right or Left on the issue of women's reproductive rights, please consider the following...
President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for more than two years, during which time its charter has lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is tasked with filling all eleven positions with new members. This position does not require Congressional approval.
The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee makes crucial decisions on matters relating to drugs used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and related specialties, including hormone therapy, contraception, treatment for infertility, and medical alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization and pregnancy termination. Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream and a setback for reproductive technology.
Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends biblical accounts of Christ healing women with case studies from Hager's practice. In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and the Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome should seek help from reading the bible and praying. As an editor and contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality, Reproductive Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.
Hagar's mission is religiously motivated. He has an ardent interest in revoking approval for mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) as a safe and early form of medical abortion. Hagar recently assisted the Christian Medical Association in a "citizen's petition" which calls upon the FDA to revoke its approval of mifepristone in the name of women's health.
Hager's desire to overturn mifepristone's approval on religious grounds rather than scientific merit would halt the development of mifepristone as a treatment for numerous medical conditions disproportionately affecting women, including breast cancer, uterine cancer, uterine fibroid tumors, psychotic depression, bipolar depression and Cushing's syndrome. Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe and effective drugs for reproductive health care including products that prevent pregnancy.
For some women, such as those with certain types of diabetes and those undergoing treatment for cancer, pregnancy can be a life-threatening condition. We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color his assessment of technologies that are necessary to protect women's lives or to preserve and promote women's health. Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to guide his medical decision-making makes him a dangerous and inappropriate candidate to serve as chair of this committee. Critical drug public policy and research must not be held hostage by antiabortion politics. Members of this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science and medicine, rather than politics and religion. American women deserve no less.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
1. SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
2. OPPOSE THE PLACEMENT OF THIS MAN BY CONTACTING THE WHITE HOUSE AND TELL THEM HE IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE ON ANY LEVEL.
Please email President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov or call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or (202) 456-1414 and say "I oppose the appointment of Dr. Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Mixing religion and medicine is unacceptable. Using the FDA to promote a political agenda is inappropriate and seriously threatens all women's health."
Sunday, June 06, 2004
bush asshole mosaic
yes, i am breaking my three months of silence to bring you this. couldn't let it slip by unnoticed. look closely. thanks to sinjun fyremonkey.
Friday, March 19, 2004
yeah, what the Voice of Golden Eagle said.....
"coincidences" are just connections we haven't the perspective to see.
Voice of Golden Eaglesaid that to me in the whole wheat radio chat today. he was responding to my statement that i have been reading a book on animal totems and shamanism, and found a passage just yesterday urging to not be afraid of change, resist stagnation, and adapt, the first step in shapeshifting. i found it incredibly relevant considering the situation. maybe the universe does speak to us all the time.
Voice of Golden Eaglesaid that to me in the whole wheat radio chat today. he was responding to my statement that i have been reading a book on animal totems and shamanism, and found a passage just yesterday urging to not be afraid of change, resist stagnation, and adapt, the first step in shapeshifting. i found it incredibly relevant considering the situation. maybe the universe does speak to us all the time.
the last day
so this is it.
the last day at the company that shall remain nameless in order to protect the innocent. i've been here for three years, the end of my twenties, quite a period of time. a time of great change and transition within myself. i am definitely not the girl i was when i started here. all week i have been anxious and impatient for it all to be over, but in true sag fashion, i am now a bit vaklempt. especially after the flowers and cards and gifts of gardening tools and sundry (how clever of them - i am leaving for a landscaping job. the kneepads were a nice touch.) from my co-workers at lunch time. they actually got me all weepy. i tend to get attached to places and situations pretty strongly, and i have a strong nostalgia streak. there are boxes and boxes of keepsakes in my house - from high school, college, this job, that job. i guess i have a hard time letting go.
i find myself wondering if we were much more like a dysfunctional family than a company. and i am the prodigal daughter, journeying out to seek her, if not fortune, then at least, purpose.
but what am i sad for? why should i be sorrowful for leaving something that for the most part made me miserable? or was i not as miserable as i thought i was? was i merely indulging in the oh-so-american trait of never being satisfied? the grass is always greener syndrome.
i'm sure the postings here will be more sporadic as i won't be sitting in front of the 'puter all day long. instead i'll be mowing grass and pruning hedges and planting bulbs. instead of carpal tunnel i'll have an aching back. grass stains instead of coffee stains. dirt under my fingernails instead of crumbs in my keyboard. and four more hours a day to myself. we'll see if it makes me happy.
i'll keep you posted.
the last day at the company that shall remain nameless in order to protect the innocent. i've been here for three years, the end of my twenties, quite a period of time. a time of great change and transition within myself. i am definitely not the girl i was when i started here. all week i have been anxious and impatient for it all to be over, but in true sag fashion, i am now a bit vaklempt. especially after the flowers and cards and gifts of gardening tools and sundry (how clever of them - i am leaving for a landscaping job. the kneepads were a nice touch.) from my co-workers at lunch time. they actually got me all weepy. i tend to get attached to places and situations pretty strongly, and i have a strong nostalgia streak. there are boxes and boxes of keepsakes in my house - from high school, college, this job, that job. i guess i have a hard time letting go.
i find myself wondering if we were much more like a dysfunctional family than a company. and i am the prodigal daughter, journeying out to seek her, if not fortune, then at least, purpose.
but what am i sad for? why should i be sorrowful for leaving something that for the most part made me miserable? or was i not as miserable as i thought i was? was i merely indulging in the oh-so-american trait of never being satisfied? the grass is always greener syndrome.
i'm sure the postings here will be more sporadic as i won't be sitting in front of the 'puter all day long. instead i'll be mowing grass and pruning hedges and planting bulbs. instead of carpal tunnel i'll have an aching back. grass stains instead of coffee stains. dirt under my fingernails instead of crumbs in my keyboard. and four more hours a day to myself. we'll see if it makes me happy.
i'll keep you posted.
Thursday, March 18, 2004
mad blood disease
vCJD, or the human equivalent of Mad Cow Disease, is more serious than I thought.
Disease risk prompts UK blood-donor ban
Disease risk prompts UK blood-donor ban
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
gray matters
this essay about a chance meeting with spalding gray, well, moved me to tears as i sat in the middle of cubicle-land this morning. i haven't been paying attention to world events lately - i've needed a break - so the discovery of his body in the east river was news to me. i will miss this eloquent, frenetic monologuist, this wayward, weaving orator, this speaker of dreams, this speaker for the dead. i don't know what else to say. goodbye spalding. i hope you have found peace.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
i'm back...briefly
i've been taking a break from blogging beacause i am, well, just tired. but i could not let this one slide by:
I have horrible news from Alaska.
91 wolves have been shot dead under Alaska's new aerial gunning program in the last month. Your help is urgently needed: the plan is to kill 80% of the wolves in an 8,000 square mile area of Alaska.
Please help stop this barbaric practice by supporting Defenders of Wildlife's wolf protection programs! Help now: http://www.care2.com/go/z/12158
Aerial hunters gun the wolves down from the air, or chase them to exhaustion in the deep snow, then land and shoot them point-blank. Under the pretense of boosting moose populations for hunters, aerial hunters can even kill pregnant females and wolf pups. Numerous scientific studies show that wolves are actually beneficial to the overall health of natural ecosystems, and keep Alaska's moose and caribou populations healthy and strong.
Wolves, much like our family dogs, are pack animals with close bonds and family ties. But right now, they really need YOUR help.
Donate to our partner, Defenders of Wildlife, today: http://www.care2.com/go/z/12158
Your donation will help:
* Shine the media spotlight on the barbaric practice of aerial gunning to provoke national outrage to stop it.
* Persuade tourism companies in Alaska to call for a ban on aerial gunning.
* Mobilize Alaska's citizens to demand legislative action to halt the killing.
* Demand that Interior Secretary Gale Norton stop the killing as a violation of the Federal Airborne Hunting Act.
This is a cause worth fighting for. Plans call for up to 140 wolves to be killed in two areas by April 30th. We must act fast. Show your outrage at this barbaric practice by donating today: http://www.care2.com/go/z/12158
Thank you for caring,
Randy Paynter
President, Care2 &
The Petition Site
PS. Wolves are closely related to our own family dogs. If your beloved animal companion faced the same fate, would you fight for her?
I have horrible news from Alaska.
91 wolves have been shot dead under Alaska's new aerial gunning program in the last month. Your help is urgently needed: the plan is to kill 80% of the wolves in an 8,000 square mile area of Alaska.
Please help stop this barbaric practice by supporting Defenders of Wildlife's wolf protection programs! Help now: http://www.care2.com/go/z/12158
Aerial hunters gun the wolves down from the air, or chase them to exhaustion in the deep snow, then land and shoot them point-blank. Under the pretense of boosting moose populations for hunters, aerial hunters can even kill pregnant females and wolf pups. Numerous scientific studies show that wolves are actually beneficial to the overall health of natural ecosystems, and keep Alaska's moose and caribou populations healthy and strong.
Wolves, much like our family dogs, are pack animals with close bonds and family ties. But right now, they really need YOUR help.
Donate to our partner, Defenders of Wildlife, today: http://www.care2.com/go/z/12158
Your donation will help:
* Shine the media spotlight on the barbaric practice of aerial gunning to provoke national outrage to stop it.
* Persuade tourism companies in Alaska to call for a ban on aerial gunning.
* Mobilize Alaska's citizens to demand legislative action to halt the killing.
* Demand that Interior Secretary Gale Norton stop the killing as a violation of the Federal Airborne Hunting Act.
This is a cause worth fighting for. Plans call for up to 140 wolves to be killed in two areas by April 30th. We must act fast. Show your outrage at this barbaric practice by donating today: http://www.care2.com/go/z/12158
Thank you for caring,
Randy Paynter
President, Care2 &
The Petition Site
PS. Wolves are closely related to our own family dogs. If your beloved animal companion faced the same fate, would you fight for her?
Thursday, March 11, 2004
sad news
article on CNN today about the bassist from the Dead Milkmen, who I was very fond of listening to in my high school punk rock days. i wonder if he ever made friends with the badger? some may remember the popular tune "punk rock girl" and "you'll dance to anything", which made fun of 80's new wave dance music. i have a great disdain for the act of suicide. it's the big cop-out, the most selfish thing one can do as a human being, to refuse this life given to us, to refuse its lessons. you're only going to have to come back and learn it all over again anyways. :(
Friday, March 05, 2004
German man wants state-paid sex
i had heard that social services in europe are excellent - longer vacations, compensation for artists, etc. but this is a little silly, don't you think? i mean maybe they could pay for the hand cream, but that's where i draw the line! :)
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
been brown so long....
...it looked like green to me. a review of this interesting book that sheds a little light of hope on our's environment's plight.
and the quote of the day is...
"The further the technical mechanism develops which allows us to escape natural necessity, the more we are subjected to artificial technical necessities."
Jacques Ellul
THE TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY (1964)
thanks to dazed in the whole wheat radio chat.
Jacques Ellul
THE TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY (1964)
thanks to dazed in the whole wheat radio chat.
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
As the Worm Turns
i'm not a big fan of howard stern. but this article from Buzzflash is pretty interesting. it outlines the theory that stern's dethronement by clear channel has absolutely nothing to do with janet jackson's nipple but everything to do with the anti-bush stance he's recently taken. interesting to note - the states he's been removed from are traditionally swing states. hmm.
San Francisco's Winter of Love
YAY! double and triple yay. i get so excited when i can post something on this blog that's actually positive....
Monday, March 01, 2004
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE SAYS 'I WAS KIDNAPPED'
EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS:
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE SAYS 'I WAS KIDNAPPED'
'TELL THE WORLD IT IS A COUP'
Monday, March 1st, 2004
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/01/1521216
Multiple sources that just spoke with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide told Democracy Now! that Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. She said he had been threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security.
TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had resigned. "He did not resign," he said. "He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president.
__________________________________________________________________________
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I'm Amy Goodman. Congressmember Waters, can you tell us about the conversation you just had with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide?
MAXINE WATERS: I most certainly can and he's anxious for me to get the message out so people will understand. He is in the Central Republic of Africa at a place called the Palace of the Renaissance, and he's not sure if that's a house or a hotel or what it is and he is surrounded by military. It's like in jail, he said. He said that he was kidnapped; he said that he was forced to leave Haiti. He said that the American embassy sent the diplomats; he referred to them as, to his home where they was lead by Mr. Moreno. And I believe that Mr. Moreno is a deputy chief of staff at the embassy in Haiti and other diplomats, and they ordered him to leave. They said you must go NOW. He said that they said that Guy Phillipe and U.S. Marines were coming to Port Au Prince; he will be killed, many Haitians will be killed, that they would not stop until they did what they wanted to do. He was there with his wife Mildred and his brother-in-law and two of his security people, and somebody from the Steel Foundation, and they're all, there's five of them that are there. They took them where-- they did stop in Antigua then they stopped at a military base, then they were in the air for hours and then they arrived at this place and they were met by five ministers of government. It's a Francophone country, they speak French. And they were then taken to this place called the Palace of the Renaissance where they are being held and they are surrounded by military people. They are not free to do whatever they want to do. Then the phone clicked off after we had talked for about five--we talked maybe fifteen minutes and then the phone clicked off. But he, some of it was muffled in the beginning, at times it was clear. But one thing that was very clear and he said it over and over again, that he was kidnapped, that the coup was completed by the Americans that they forced him out. They had also disabled his American security force that he had around him for months now; they did not allow them to extend their numbers. To begin with they wanted them to bring in more people to provide security they prevented them from doing that and then they finally forced them out of the country. So that's where his is and I said to him that I would do everything I could to get the word out. that I heard it directly from him I heard it directly from his wife that they were kidnapped, they were forced to leave, they did not want to leave, their lives were threatened and the lives of many Haitians were threatened. And I said that we would be in touch with the State Department, with the President today and if at all possible we would try to get to him. We don't know whether or not he is going to be moved. We will try and find that information out today.
AMY GOODMAN: Did President Aristide say whether or not he resigned?
MAXINE WATERS: He did not resign. He said he was forced out, that the coup was completed.
AMY GOODMAN: So again to summarize, Congressmember Maxine Waters, you have just gotten off the phone with President Jean Bertrand Aristide, who said he believes he is in the Central African Republic.
MAXINE WATERS: That's right, with French speaking officers, he's surrounded by them and he's in this place called the Palace of the Renaissance and he was forced to go there. They took him there.
AMY GOODMAN: What are you going to do right now?
MAXINE WATERS: I'm going to get to the State Dept to find out what do they plan on doing with him. Do they plan on leaving him there or are they planning on taking him to another country? We are going to tell them we would like to see him. We are prepared to go where he is NOW and that we are demanding that we are able to see him and go where he is. And to negotiate what will be done with him.
AMY GOODMAN: Did he describe how he was taken out? We had heard reports in Haiti that he was taken out in handcuffs.
MAXINE WATERS: No he did not say he was taken out in handcuffs. He simply said that they came led by Mr. Moreno followed by the marines and they said simply "You have to go! You have no choice, you must go and if you don't you will be killed and many Haitians will be killed. We are planning with Mr. De filliped to come into Puerto Rico. He will not be alone he will come with American military and you will not survive, you will be killed. You've got to go now!"
AMY GOODMAN: How did President Aristide sound? What was the quality of his voice?
MAXINE WATERS: The quality of his voice was anxious, angry, disturbed, wanting people to know the truth.
AMY GOODMAN: Did he say why he had not made any calls since early on Sunday morning; that people had not been in touch with him for more than 36 hours. Certainly this plane was equipped with a telephone?
MAXINE WATERS: OH, I don't think they were able to make any calls from the plane. They were only allowed to make calls once they landed. And I think the only call that they had made was to her mother who is in Florida and her brother. But they were not allowed - they had no access to telephone calls - to a telephone on the plane.
AMY GOODMAN: What is the next step - what are you going to do? What do you think the people in this country should being doing about this situation in Haiti?
MAXINE WATERS: First of all I think the people in this country should be outraged that our government led a coup d'etat against a democratically elected President. They should call, write. Fax with their outrage, not only to the State Dept. but to all of their elected officials and to the press. We have to keep the information flying in the air so people will get it and understand what is taking place. And for those of us who are elected officials we must not only get to the President, we must demand that he is returned to claim his presidency if that is what he wants. If you can recall what happened in Venezuela when Mr. Chavez was - they tried to force him out and they had someone step into the presidency and he had not resigned his presidency and he got it back. I did not have that conversation with President Aristide but we must meet with him and we must talk with him and be prepared to protect him.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Maxine Waters I want to thank you for being with us again. Congress member Waters has just spoken with President Aristide who she says said he was kidnapped and is now with his wife and surrounded by security in the Central African Republic.
RANDALL ROBINSON: The president called me on a cell phone that was slipped to him by someone - he has no land line out to the world and no number at which he can be reached. He is being held in a room with his wife and his sister's husband, who happened to be at the house at the time that the abduction occurred. The soldiers came in to the house and ordered them to use no phones and to come immediately. They were taken at gunpoint to the airport and put on a plane. His own security detachment was taken as well and they were put in a separate compartment of the plane. The president was kept with his wife with the soldiers with the shades of the plane down and when he asked where he was being taken, the soldiers told him they were under orders not to tell him that. He was flown first to Antigua, which he recognized, but then he was told to put the shades down again. They were on the ground like this for two hours before they took off again and landed six hours later at another location again told to keep the shades down. At no time before they left the house and on the plane were they allowed to use a phone. Only when they landed the last time were they told that they were in the central African republic. Then taken to a room with a balcony. They do not know what the room is. Outside they say they are surrounded by soldiers. So that they have no freedom. The president asked me to tell the world that it is a coup, that they have been kidnapped. That they have been abducted. I have put in calls to members of congress asking that they demand that the president be given an opportunity to speak, that he be given a press conference opportunity and that people be given an opportunity to reach him by phone so that they can hear directly from him how he is being treated. But the essential point is clear. He did not resign. He was taken by force from his residence in the middle of the night, forced on to a plane, and taken away without being told where he was going. He was kidnapped. There's no question about it.
AMY GOODMAN: How does he actually know, Randall Robinson, how does president Aristide know that he is in the Central African Republic?
RANDALL ROBINSON: He was told that when he arrived. That there was some official reception of officials of that government at the airport when he arrived. But, you see, he still had and continues to have surrounding him American military.
AMY GOODMAN: You spoke with him and Mildred Aristide up to 10 times a day in the last days before they were removed from Haiti. How did president Aristide sound when you spoke with him today?
RANDALL ROBINSON: They sounded tired and very concerned that the departure has been mistold to the world. They wanted to make certain that I did all that I could to disabuse any misled public that he had not resigned, that he had been abducted. That was very, very important to him and Mrs. Aristide explained to me the strange response to my calls on Saturday night. I had talked to her on Saturday morning and him on Friday. But when I called the house on Saturday night, the phone was answered by an unfamiliar voice who told me that the president was busy, a response that was strange and then when I asked for Mrs. Aristide, I was told that she was busy, too. As she told me then, even that early on, before they were taken away and before the soldiers came, they had been instructed they were not allowed to talk to anyone. So, that is - she said that was the reason she explained this today, a few minutes ago - why she was not able to talk to me and he was not able to talk to me when I called the house object Saturday evening.
AMY GOODMAN: Who did they say was the person that you had actually spoken to?
RANDALL ROBINSON: No, but that it was not someone who worked at the house because they know my voice when they hear it and they respond to it because I call so many times. This was something new, a new person, a new voice, with a new kind of tone. That is when we began to be concerned that something was amiss.
AMY GOODMAN: I will ask you the same question I asked Congressmember Waters who also spoke with president Aristide. The issue of whether president Aristide resigned. Did he say he did or he didn't?
RANDALL ROBINSON: Emphatically not.
AMY GOODMAN He said he did not resign?
RANDALL ROBINSON: He did not resign. He did not resign. He was kidnapped and all of the circumstances seem to support his assertion. Had he resigned, we wouldn't need blacked out windows and blocked communications and military taking him away at gunpoint. Had he resigned, he would have been happy to leave the country. He was not. He resisted. Emphatically not. He did not resign. He was abducted by the United States, a democratic, a democratically elected president, abducted by the United States in the commission of an American induced coup. This is a frightening thing to contemplate.
AMY GOODMAN: And again, Randall Robinson, you said you spoke to president Aristide by a cell phone that was smuggled to him?
RANDALL ROBINSON: Yes and I cannot call back because I have no number and the only way they can call out is by cell phone because they have not been provided with any land lines.
AMY GOODMAN: Did they say how long they will be staying in this place that they are, the palace of the Renaissance, they say they believe in the Central African Republic?
RANDALL ROBINSON: I haven't been told anything. I told her that last night I spoke to senator Dodd's foreign policy person Janice O'Connell called me to say that she had learned from the State Department that he was being taken to the Central African Republic and she had also been told by the State Department that they had refused, that the south Africans had refused asylum. I told her that I didn't believe that that was true because the South African foreign minister - [Noise] Hello?
AMY GOODMAN: Yes, Randall, Robinson, we hear you.
RANDALL ROBINSON: Because the South African foreign minister had called me from India Mid-afternoon on Sunday and she asked how I was doing and I thought I was going to be doing much better, and I told her so. And I said because I'm sure that president Aristide has arrived in South Africa. She said no, he hasn't arrived here. We haven't heard anything from him. We don't know where he is and then we became really alarmed. She said there's been no request for asylum. So, you see, the State Department is telling an interested public, including members of the congress, that South Africa refused asylum. The State Department knows better. They know that President Aristide was not allowed to request asylum from South Africa or anybody else because he was not allowed to make any phone calls before they left Haiti, during the flight, and beyond.
AMY GOODMAN: Anything else you would like to add from your conversation with president Aristide on this smuggled phone that he got hold of after many hours incommunicado and now saying he believes he is in the central African republic with the first lady of Haiti, Mildred Aristide?
RANDALL ROBINSON: The phrase that he used several times and asked of me to find a way to tell the Haitian people, he said tell the world it's a coup, it's a coup, it's a coup.
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE SAYS 'I WAS KIDNAPPED'
'TELL THE WORLD IT IS A COUP'
Monday, March 1st, 2004
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/01/1521216
Multiple sources that just spoke with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide told Democracy Now! that Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. She said he had been threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security.
TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had resigned. "He did not resign," he said. "He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president.
__________________________________________________________________________
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I'm Amy Goodman. Congressmember Waters, can you tell us about the conversation you just had with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide?
MAXINE WATERS: I most certainly can and he's anxious for me to get the message out so people will understand. He is in the Central Republic of Africa at a place called the Palace of the Renaissance, and he's not sure if that's a house or a hotel or what it is and he is surrounded by military. It's like in jail, he said. He said that he was kidnapped; he said that he was forced to leave Haiti. He said that the American embassy sent the diplomats; he referred to them as, to his home where they was lead by Mr. Moreno. And I believe that Mr. Moreno is a deputy chief of staff at the embassy in Haiti and other diplomats, and they ordered him to leave. They said you must go NOW. He said that they said that Guy Phillipe and U.S. Marines were coming to Port Au Prince; he will be killed, many Haitians will be killed, that they would not stop until they did what they wanted to do. He was there with his wife Mildred and his brother-in-law and two of his security people, and somebody from the Steel Foundation, and they're all, there's five of them that are there. They took them where-- they did stop in Antigua then they stopped at a military base, then they were in the air for hours and then they arrived at this place and they were met by five ministers of government. It's a Francophone country, they speak French. And they were then taken to this place called the Palace of the Renaissance where they are being held and they are surrounded by military people. They are not free to do whatever they want to do. Then the phone clicked off after we had talked for about five--we talked maybe fifteen minutes and then the phone clicked off. But he, some of it was muffled in the beginning, at times it was clear. But one thing that was very clear and he said it over and over again, that he was kidnapped, that the coup was completed by the Americans that they forced him out. They had also disabled his American security force that he had around him for months now; they did not allow them to extend their numbers. To begin with they wanted them to bring in more people to provide security they prevented them from doing that and then they finally forced them out of the country. So that's where his is and I said to him that I would do everything I could to get the word out. that I heard it directly from him I heard it directly from his wife that they were kidnapped, they were forced to leave, they did not want to leave, their lives were threatened and the lives of many Haitians were threatened. And I said that we would be in touch with the State Department, with the President today and if at all possible we would try to get to him. We don't know whether or not he is going to be moved. We will try and find that information out today.
AMY GOODMAN: Did President Aristide say whether or not he resigned?
MAXINE WATERS: He did not resign. He said he was forced out, that the coup was completed.
AMY GOODMAN: So again to summarize, Congressmember Maxine Waters, you have just gotten off the phone with President Jean Bertrand Aristide, who said he believes he is in the Central African Republic.
MAXINE WATERS: That's right, with French speaking officers, he's surrounded by them and he's in this place called the Palace of the Renaissance and he was forced to go there. They took him there.
AMY GOODMAN: What are you going to do right now?
MAXINE WATERS: I'm going to get to the State Dept to find out what do they plan on doing with him. Do they plan on leaving him there or are they planning on taking him to another country? We are going to tell them we would like to see him. We are prepared to go where he is NOW and that we are demanding that we are able to see him and go where he is. And to negotiate what will be done with him.
AMY GOODMAN: Did he describe how he was taken out? We had heard reports in Haiti that he was taken out in handcuffs.
MAXINE WATERS: No he did not say he was taken out in handcuffs. He simply said that they came led by Mr. Moreno followed by the marines and they said simply "You have to go! You have no choice, you must go and if you don't you will be killed and many Haitians will be killed. We are planning with Mr. De filliped to come into Puerto Rico. He will not be alone he will come with American military and you will not survive, you will be killed. You've got to go now!"
AMY GOODMAN: How did President Aristide sound? What was the quality of his voice?
MAXINE WATERS: The quality of his voice was anxious, angry, disturbed, wanting people to know the truth.
AMY GOODMAN: Did he say why he had not made any calls since early on Sunday morning; that people had not been in touch with him for more than 36 hours. Certainly this plane was equipped with a telephone?
MAXINE WATERS: OH, I don't think they were able to make any calls from the plane. They were only allowed to make calls once they landed. And I think the only call that they had made was to her mother who is in Florida and her brother. But they were not allowed - they had no access to telephone calls - to a telephone on the plane.
AMY GOODMAN: What is the next step - what are you going to do? What do you think the people in this country should being doing about this situation in Haiti?
MAXINE WATERS: First of all I think the people in this country should be outraged that our government led a coup d'etat against a democratically elected President. They should call, write. Fax with their outrage, not only to the State Dept. but to all of their elected officials and to the press. We have to keep the information flying in the air so people will get it and understand what is taking place. And for those of us who are elected officials we must not only get to the President, we must demand that he is returned to claim his presidency if that is what he wants. If you can recall what happened in Venezuela when Mr. Chavez was - they tried to force him out and they had someone step into the presidency and he had not resigned his presidency and he got it back. I did not have that conversation with President Aristide but we must meet with him and we must talk with him and be prepared to protect him.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Maxine Waters I want to thank you for being with us again. Congress member Waters has just spoken with President Aristide who she says said he was kidnapped and is now with his wife and surrounded by security in the Central African Republic.
RANDALL ROBINSON: The president called me on a cell phone that was slipped to him by someone - he has no land line out to the world and no number at which he can be reached. He is being held in a room with his wife and his sister's husband, who happened to be at the house at the time that the abduction occurred. The soldiers came in to the house and ordered them to use no phones and to come immediately. They were taken at gunpoint to the airport and put on a plane. His own security detachment was taken as well and they were put in a separate compartment of the plane. The president was kept with his wife with the soldiers with the shades of the plane down and when he asked where he was being taken, the soldiers told him they were under orders not to tell him that. He was flown first to Antigua, which he recognized, but then he was told to put the shades down again. They were on the ground like this for two hours before they took off again and landed six hours later at another location again told to keep the shades down. At no time before they left the house and on the plane were they allowed to use a phone. Only when they landed the last time were they told that they were in the central African republic. Then taken to a room with a balcony. They do not know what the room is. Outside they say they are surrounded by soldiers. So that they have no freedom. The president asked me to tell the world that it is a coup, that they have been kidnapped. That they have been abducted. I have put in calls to members of congress asking that they demand that the president be given an opportunity to speak, that he be given a press conference opportunity and that people be given an opportunity to reach him by phone so that they can hear directly from him how he is being treated. But the essential point is clear. He did not resign. He was taken by force from his residence in the middle of the night, forced on to a plane, and taken away without being told where he was going. He was kidnapped. There's no question about it.
AMY GOODMAN: How does he actually know, Randall Robinson, how does president Aristide know that he is in the Central African Republic?
RANDALL ROBINSON: He was told that when he arrived. That there was some official reception of officials of that government at the airport when he arrived. But, you see, he still had and continues to have surrounding him American military.
AMY GOODMAN: You spoke with him and Mildred Aristide up to 10 times a day in the last days before they were removed from Haiti. How did president Aristide sound when you spoke with him today?
RANDALL ROBINSON: They sounded tired and very concerned that the departure has been mistold to the world. They wanted to make certain that I did all that I could to disabuse any misled public that he had not resigned, that he had been abducted. That was very, very important to him and Mrs. Aristide explained to me the strange response to my calls on Saturday night. I had talked to her on Saturday morning and him on Friday. But when I called the house on Saturday night, the phone was answered by an unfamiliar voice who told me that the president was busy, a response that was strange and then when I asked for Mrs. Aristide, I was told that she was busy, too. As she told me then, even that early on, before they were taken away and before the soldiers came, they had been instructed they were not allowed to talk to anyone. So, that is - she said that was the reason she explained this today, a few minutes ago - why she was not able to talk to me and he was not able to talk to me when I called the house object Saturday evening.
AMY GOODMAN: Who did they say was the person that you had actually spoken to?
RANDALL ROBINSON: No, but that it was not someone who worked at the house because they know my voice when they hear it and they respond to it because I call so many times. This was something new, a new person, a new voice, with a new kind of tone. That is when we began to be concerned that something was amiss.
AMY GOODMAN: I will ask you the same question I asked Congressmember Waters who also spoke with president Aristide. The issue of whether president Aristide resigned. Did he say he did or he didn't?
RANDALL ROBINSON: Emphatically not.
AMY GOODMAN He said he did not resign?
RANDALL ROBINSON: He did not resign. He did not resign. He was kidnapped and all of the circumstances seem to support his assertion. Had he resigned, we wouldn't need blacked out windows and blocked communications and military taking him away at gunpoint. Had he resigned, he would have been happy to leave the country. He was not. He resisted. Emphatically not. He did not resign. He was abducted by the United States, a democratic, a democratically elected president, abducted by the United States in the commission of an American induced coup. This is a frightening thing to contemplate.
AMY GOODMAN: And again, Randall Robinson, you said you spoke to president Aristide by a cell phone that was smuggled to him?
RANDALL ROBINSON: Yes and I cannot call back because I have no number and the only way they can call out is by cell phone because they have not been provided with any land lines.
AMY GOODMAN: Did they say how long they will be staying in this place that they are, the palace of the Renaissance, they say they believe in the Central African Republic?
RANDALL ROBINSON: I haven't been told anything. I told her that last night I spoke to senator Dodd's foreign policy person Janice O'Connell called me to say that she had learned from the State Department that he was being taken to the Central African Republic and she had also been told by the State Department that they had refused, that the south Africans had refused asylum. I told her that I didn't believe that that was true because the South African foreign minister - [Noise] Hello?
AMY GOODMAN: Yes, Randall, Robinson, we hear you.
RANDALL ROBINSON: Because the South African foreign minister had called me from India Mid-afternoon on Sunday and she asked how I was doing and I thought I was going to be doing much better, and I told her so. And I said because I'm sure that president Aristide has arrived in South Africa. She said no, he hasn't arrived here. We haven't heard anything from him. We don't know where he is and then we became really alarmed. She said there's been no request for asylum. So, you see, the State Department is telling an interested public, including members of the congress, that South Africa refused asylum. The State Department knows better. They know that President Aristide was not allowed to request asylum from South Africa or anybody else because he was not allowed to make any phone calls before they left Haiti, during the flight, and beyond.
AMY GOODMAN: Anything else you would like to add from your conversation with president Aristide on this smuggled phone that he got hold of after many hours incommunicado and now saying he believes he is in the central African republic with the first lady of Haiti, Mildred Aristide?
RANDALL ROBINSON: The phrase that he used several times and asked of me to find a way to tell the Haitian people, he said tell the world it's a coup, it's a coup, it's a coup.
Friday, February 27, 2004
time for a change...
weeee!!!!!
i expect nothing short of loud cheers and congrats.
i am leaving the corporate computer world. today, i gave my notice to the evil overlords. soon, freedom shall ensue. i accepted a landscaping gig with an all-girl crew yesterday, so will be digging in the dirt and planting things, making more pretty green in the world, surrounded by happy female energy!
there may be an impromptu celebration of my imminent release from said capitalist jungle at the farmhouse. you will be kept posted.
weee!!!
i expect nothing short of loud cheers and congrats.
i am leaving the corporate computer world. today, i gave my notice to the evil overlords. soon, freedom shall ensue. i accepted a landscaping gig with an all-girl crew yesterday, so will be digging in the dirt and planting things, making more pretty green in the world, surrounded by happy female energy!
there may be an impromptu celebration of my imminent release from said capitalist jungle at the farmhouse. you will be kept posted.
weee!!!
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
a thought
I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all.
the apocalypse is coming
Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us
get ready. learn how to farm and stockpile some weapons. go buy a generator or better yet some solar panels. mother earth is pissed off and we're all screwed.
get ready. learn how to farm and stockpile some weapons. go buy a generator or better yet some solar panels. mother earth is pissed off and we're all screwed.
Monday, February 23, 2004
today
i have absolutely nothing interesting to say. i'm preoccupied with...something else....
why are you still reading this?
:P
why are you still reading this?
:P
Friday, February 20, 2004
Gay Agenda
i just can't stop, huh?here is a good little animation i found thanks to Huna at Whole Wheat Radio. i really like mark fiore's animations, this one's kinda neat.
on homosexuality and the old testament.......
this is a good one.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to
people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an
observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to
Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.
The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast
resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as
informative:
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding
God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share
that knowledge with as many people as I can . When someone tries to defend
the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus
18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other
specific laws and how to follow them:
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a
pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They
claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus
21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for
her?
Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female,
provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine
claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify?
Why can't I own Canadians?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2
clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill
him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination
- Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't
agree. Can you settle this?
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a
defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear read! ing glasses. Does my
vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around
their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How
should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me
unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different
crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two
different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse
and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble
of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't
we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with
people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you
can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and
unchanging.
Your devoted fan,
***
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to
people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an
observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to
Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.
The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast
resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as
informative:
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding
God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share
that knowledge with as many people as I can . When someone tries to defend
the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus
18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other
specific laws and how to follow them:
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a
pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They
claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus
21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for
her?
Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female,
provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine
claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify?
Why can't I own Canadians?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2
clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill
him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination
- Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't
agree. Can you settle this?
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a
defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear read! ing glasses. Does my
vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around
their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How
should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me
unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different
crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two
different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse
and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble
of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't
we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with
people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you
can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and
unchanging.
Your devoted fan,
***
Thursday, February 19, 2004
on gay marraige
here is a link to some videos made by an artist acquaintance of mine, adam waterson. they are documentary-on-the-street style films on the subject of gay marraige. warning: long download time, and may contain traces of dumbasses.
the ultimate betrayal - sad alert
new howard zinn article on the casualties of war that go unheeded, unseen, and glossed over by this administration and its corporate media slaves.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Ani DiFranco goes it alone
HoustonChronicle.com
this is an interesting interview. we seem to be in a similar headspace right now......
this is an interesting interview. we seem to be in a similar headspace right now......
my friends are famous!
for wearing underwear in public! how fantastic! here is the lovable miss deb murray at my favorite breakfast freakshow, the friendly toast.
Portsmouth Herald Local News: Petticoat junction
Portsmouth Herald Local News: Petticoat junction
The Culling by D. Allan Kerr
Seacoast Online Columnist: The Culling by D. Allan Kerr
yup. too true. except for his claims that "strong democrats" like kerry and dean are cool, and will pull us out of this.
yup. too true. except for his claims that "strong democrats" like kerry and dean are cool, and will pull us out of this.
seafood watch
for those of you that eat the fishies, here's a good place where you can make sure you are eating the right ones, for various reasons, like overfarming or pollution.
King George's Resume
another version of the gwb res i've seen floating about. for your perusal.
i was reminded of one thing i am thankful for when i watched the film "sunshine" this weekend, which is a story about three generations of a hungarian jewish family spanning the 1800's through WWII and the rise of communism - that i live in a country where i can write these things in my blog and not be shot. yet.
i was reminded of one thing i am thankful for when i watched the film "sunshine" this weekend, which is a story about three generations of a hungarian jewish family spanning the 1800's through WWII and the rise of communism - that i live in a country where i can write these things in my blog and not be shot. yet.
March on Juarez
The Village Voice: Nation: Eve Ensler and Amnesty International March on Juarez to Stop the Murder of Young Women by Hillary Chute
this is an update on a situation which i believe my very first post here on this blog was about. i asked you all to sign a petition urging the mexican government to investigate the murders of young women in mexico that were going unexplained. interesting story.
this is an update on a situation which i believe my very first post here on this blog was about. i asked you all to sign a petition urging the mexican government to investigate the murders of young women in mexico that were going unexplained. interesting story.
New Dems Foreign Policy
i am absolutely not voting for john kerry this year. he said this:
"I could never agree with those in the antiwar movement who dismissed our troops as war criminals or our country as the villain in the drama. That's one reason, in fact, that I eventually parted ways with the VVAW [Vietnam Veterans Against the War] organizations and instead helped found the Vietnam Veterans of America."
more here:
Mark Hand: Kerry's Version of PNAC
ah yes, another reason to abandon it all and just vote green, folks.
"I could never agree with those in the antiwar movement who dismissed our troops as war criminals or our country as the villain in the drama. That's one reason, in fact, that I eventually parted ways with the VVAW [Vietnam Veterans Against the War] organizations and instead helped found the Vietnam Veterans of America."
more here:
Mark Hand: Kerry's Version of PNAC
ah yes, another reason to abandon it all and just vote green, folks.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
notes on pro-choice
from an e-mail i received from NARAL pro-choice america. our un-administration keeps getting scarier and scarier. john ashcroft makes me very, very angry.
The Bush Administration has stepped up its campaign against a woman's right to choose, with a new and deeply troubling assault on personal privacy.
Help stop the Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Pro-choice Americans must stand up to these challenges to our privacy rights and say, "Enough is enough!" First, John Ashcroft's Justice Department has subpoenaed the private medical records of women across the country who've had abortion care. The Ashcroft Justice Department actually argued in court that the law shouldn't honor the confidentiality of the doctor-patient relationship.
And today we learned that Bush's hand-picked head of the Food and Drug Administration may reject the recommendation of his own advisory committee and deny an application allowing emergency contraception to be sold over-the-counter. FDA observers say that such recommendations are rarely ignored. But political pressure from the White House and Congress could trump sound science. Already the pressure has led the FDA to delay its decision, further holding women's access to this important option hostage.
As the political arm of the pro-choice movement, NARAL Pro-Choice America is prepared to fight these outrageous actions. We are the strongest voice for women's privacy rights and a woman's right to choose, and we will use every tool at our disposal to make sure the American people know how George W. Bush, John Ashcroft and their anti-choice cronies are dismantling medical privacy and a woman's right to choose.
Now more than ever, we need your financial support to help stop the Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft from trampling our rights. Pro-choice Americans must stand up to these challenges to our privacy rights and say, "Enough is enough!"
The idea of John Ashcroft rifling through our medical records is exactly what NARAL Pro-Choice America fears most. This is a man who opposes oral contraceptives, the IUD, and Depo-Provera - the very tools needed to make abortion less necessary - because he believes contraception is the same as abortion.
That view is obviously spreading throughout the Bush Administration. The FDA's looming decision can only be explained as an act of far-right politics. Emergency contraception has an excellent safety record, and it's the best way to make abortion less necessary by preventing unintended pregnancy. But far-right ideologues oppose it, and the White House has made clear that politics, not science, should rule.
Many of you stood with us to oppose Bush's nomination of John Ashcroft as Attorney General. And a record number of you joined us in calling on the FDA to approve over-the-counter sales of EC. We need you to stand up again for women's rights today. Please support our work by giving a gift to NARAL Pro-Choice America to fight John Ashcroft and the Bush Administration's war on medical privacy.
http://www.naral.org/
The Bush Administration has stepped up its campaign against a woman's right to choose, with a new and deeply troubling assault on personal privacy.
Help stop the Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Pro-choice Americans must stand up to these challenges to our privacy rights and say, "Enough is enough!" First, John Ashcroft's Justice Department has subpoenaed the private medical records of women across the country who've had abortion care. The Ashcroft Justice Department actually argued in court that the law shouldn't honor the confidentiality of the doctor-patient relationship.
And today we learned that Bush's hand-picked head of the Food and Drug Administration may reject the recommendation of his own advisory committee and deny an application allowing emergency contraception to be sold over-the-counter. FDA observers say that such recommendations are rarely ignored. But political pressure from the White House and Congress could trump sound science. Already the pressure has led the FDA to delay its decision, further holding women's access to this important option hostage.
As the political arm of the pro-choice movement, NARAL Pro-Choice America is prepared to fight these outrageous actions. We are the strongest voice for women's privacy rights and a woman's right to choose, and we will use every tool at our disposal to make sure the American people know how George W. Bush, John Ashcroft and their anti-choice cronies are dismantling medical privacy and a woman's right to choose.
Now more than ever, we need your financial support to help stop the Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft from trampling our rights. Pro-choice Americans must stand up to these challenges to our privacy rights and say, "Enough is enough!"
The idea of John Ashcroft rifling through our medical records is exactly what NARAL Pro-Choice America fears most. This is a man who opposes oral contraceptives, the IUD, and Depo-Provera - the very tools needed to make abortion less necessary - because he believes contraception is the same as abortion.
That view is obviously spreading throughout the Bush Administration. The FDA's looming decision can only be explained as an act of far-right politics. Emergency contraception has an excellent safety record, and it's the best way to make abortion less necessary by preventing unintended pregnancy. But far-right ideologues oppose it, and the White House has made clear that politics, not science, should rule.
Many of you stood with us to oppose Bush's nomination of John Ashcroft as Attorney General. And a record number of you joined us in calling on the FDA to approve over-the-counter sales of EC. We need you to stand up again for women's rights today. Please support our work by giving a gift to NARAL Pro-Choice America to fight John Ashcroft and the Bush Administration's war on medical privacy.
http://www.naral.org/
only in ireland would this be a headline.....
from the irish emigrant:
Price of pint rises again
Guinness drinkers face another price hike with a six cent (4.5%) increase on the pint from March 1. Director of Corporate Affairs Pat Barry said that the decision was a hard one for Guinness to make, but there was little alternative as Guinness sales figures have shown a significant drop in the past year. Also going up in price are other products from Guinness in Ireland such as Smithwicks, Carslberg, Harp and Budweiser. It seems that a pint of Guinness now sells for anything between €3 and €4, with some bars charging even more.
yeah, but at least it tastes better over there....
Price of pint rises again
Guinness drinkers face another price hike with a six cent (4.5%) increase on the pint from March 1. Director of Corporate Affairs Pat Barry said that the decision was a hard one for Guinness to make, but there was little alternative as Guinness sales figures have shown a significant drop in the past year. Also going up in price are other products from Guinness in Ireland such as Smithwicks, Carslberg, Harp and Budweiser. It seems that a pint of Guinness now sells for anything between €3 and €4, with some bars charging even more.
yeah, but at least it tastes better over there....
velvety skulls
i seriously considered shaving my head this weekend. not sure what really made me toss the idea around, maybe because i would conceptually be chopping off the last four years of my life and starting anew. also my friend jilly has 1/2 inch long hair and is quite fetching, the elven sprite that she is. i love rubbing her soft velvet head. i guess you could call it velvet head envy. both her and my roommate rosie though it was a great idea. my ex's reaction was "what the hell you wanna do that for? whatever floats your boat, girlie." my roommate's two gay actor friends visiting from NYC exploded loudly "no way, sister, you keep your gorgeous hair!" it seems that all the ladies want me to chop it off, and all the boys want me to leave it. hmmm.
this will only seem like a big deal to those of you that know i have been dying to grow my hair as long as physically possible since the day i was born because as a child i had a combo obsession with both samson from the bible and crystal gayle. i *really* wanted her to be my mom. :) and my grandma made me keep my hair short when i was a kid. i kinda looked like annie.
or maybe it's because i didn't get a darn thing for valentine's day. not even a single chocolate. harumph. now i'm depressed. think i'll go home and down the entire bottle of champagne i was saving for a special occasion.
this will only seem like a big deal to those of you that know i have been dying to grow my hair as long as physically possible since the day i was born because as a child i had a combo obsession with both samson from the bible and crystal gayle. i *really* wanted her to be my mom. :) and my grandma made me keep my hair short when i was a kid. i kinda looked like annie.
or maybe it's because i didn't get a darn thing for valentine's day. not even a single chocolate. harumph. now i'm depressed. think i'll go home and down the entire bottle of champagne i was saving for a special occasion.
Friday, February 13, 2004
remembered eloquence...
today i got an e-mail from a friend describing the transformative beauty he encountered when hearing anton bagatov's "close" for the first time. this is my response.
thanks for this. i read and listened, and heard.
i am in a space of shedding, banishing, self-imposed solitary confinement. i hope i'll be beautiful when i exit this cocoon. you may be the judge of that.
my spirituality has become some bizarre concoction of paganism and buddhism. i have become obsessed with yoga, and am hoping to change careers completely and be a yoga teacher someday. i want to do something healthy for myself and others.
i experienced that beauty you describe below last night at a concert. the passion exiting brian's mouth was almost visible, palpable, under the stage lights as he sang about purity, loss, redemption, humility, and God. 'heaven help me when i think i'm not enough. heaven help me, when i think i am.' teary-eyed, i thought the world blessed for having such an eloquent soul to speak its truths. his music seemed to reach into my chest, grasp a hold of something, and wrench it free, a writhing mass of stringy wet pulp torn out of this dried husk, this shell, and hold it out to me for my perusal. i was reminded that i feel.
http://www.brian-webb.com
recordings do this man no justice whatsoever.
thanks for this. i read and listened, and heard.
i am in a space of shedding, banishing, self-imposed solitary confinement. i hope i'll be beautiful when i exit this cocoon. you may be the judge of that.
my spirituality has become some bizarre concoction of paganism and buddhism. i have become obsessed with yoga, and am hoping to change careers completely and be a yoga teacher someday. i want to do something healthy for myself and others.
i experienced that beauty you describe below last night at a concert. the passion exiting brian's mouth was almost visible, palpable, under the stage lights as he sang about purity, loss, redemption, humility, and God. 'heaven help me when i think i'm not enough. heaven help me, when i think i am.' teary-eyed, i thought the world blessed for having such an eloquent soul to speak its truths. his music seemed to reach into my chest, grasp a hold of something, and wrench it free, a writhing mass of stringy wet pulp torn out of this dried husk, this shell, and hold it out to me for my perusal. i was reminded that i feel.
http://www.brian-webb.com
recordings do this man no justice whatsoever.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
jihad rap video
The Investigative Project
this is crazy. i have no comment for now. must digest. i will say the beginning is sickening, and the end is chilling.
no one is right.
this is crazy. i have no comment for now. must digest. i will say the beginning is sickening, and the end is chilling.
no one is right.
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
which bunny are you - silliness alert
yup.
you are the cute but psycho happy bunny. You
adorable, but a little out there. It's alright,
you might not have it all, but there are worse
which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
you are the cute but psycho happy bunny. You
adorable, but a little out there. It's alright,
you might not have it all, but there are worse
which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Friday, February 06, 2004
turtles and seals
more crappy things happening in the land of creatures. please try to make a difference by signing the petitions below.
1. Protest Drilling in Endangered Sea Turtle Habitat
http://www.care2.com/go/z/11369/1072
President Bush has just approved extensive gas drilling in the main U.S. nesting beach for the most endangered sea turtle in the world. If threatening the lives of the planet's remaining 3,000 to 5,000 adult Kemp's ridley turtles will affect how you feel about the President when you vote this year, please sign this petition to let him know.
The National Park Service just approved the drilling without formally consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as required by the Endangered Species Act.
The drilling trucks could crush nests or pack down the sand so that hatchlings are unable to emerge from nests. Even the vibrations from rumbling trucks can increase the likelihood of embryonic damage or mortality, according to the species' official "Sea Turtle Recovery Plan."
The park offers the longest undeveloped barrier beach in the world. Park Service approval for a third drilling permit is likely soon, despite the use of the island by the Kemp's ridley sea turtle every spring for nesting.
Send a letter to President Bush, telling him that his inability to protect such endangered creatures in need will affect your vote this year.
http://www.care2.com/go/z/11369/1072
2. Stop the Baby Seal Hunt!
http://www.care2.com/go/z/11370/1072
This year, by late March, the seal hunters armed with clubs and rifles will go again to the nursery floes of the harp and hood seal, to kill them while they are too young to escape into the water.
42% of the helpless creatures (most under 3 months old) are believed to be skinned alive, according to International Fund for Animal Welfare. In 2003 alone, 350,000 seals where killed in this brutal manner. They will kill 700,000 more over the next two years.
Please sign this petition and send it to everyone who cares for the animals in the world to stop this extremely cruel slaughter of innocent seals in Canada.
1. Protest Drilling in Endangered Sea Turtle Habitat
http://www.care2.com/go/z/11369/1072
President Bush has just approved extensive gas drilling in the main U.S. nesting beach for the most endangered sea turtle in the world. If threatening the lives of the planet's remaining 3,000 to 5,000 adult Kemp's ridley turtles will affect how you feel about the President when you vote this year, please sign this petition to let him know.
The National Park Service just approved the drilling without formally consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as required by the Endangered Species Act.
The drilling trucks could crush nests or pack down the sand so that hatchlings are unable to emerge from nests. Even the vibrations from rumbling trucks can increase the likelihood of embryonic damage or mortality, according to the species' official "Sea Turtle Recovery Plan."
The park offers the longest undeveloped barrier beach in the world. Park Service approval for a third drilling permit is likely soon, despite the use of the island by the Kemp's ridley sea turtle every spring for nesting.
Send a letter to President Bush, telling him that his inability to protect such endangered creatures in need will affect your vote this year.
http://www.care2.com/go/z/11369/1072
2. Stop the Baby Seal Hunt!
http://www.care2.com/go/z/11370/1072
This year, by late March, the seal hunters armed with clubs and rifles will go again to the nursery floes of the harp and hood seal, to kill them while they are too young to escape into the water.
42% of the helpless creatures (most under 3 months old) are believed to be skinned alive, according to International Fund for Animal Welfare. In 2003 alone, 350,000 seals where killed in this brutal manner. They will kill 700,000 more over the next two years.
Please sign this petition and send it to everyone who cares for the animals in the world to stop this extremely cruel slaughter of innocent seals in Canada.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
an open letter to the catholic church
my incredibly eloquent friend sean composed this letter:
I sent this article as a letter to the editor of
several publications today.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: EXCOMMUNICATE
ME
My conscience was formed by a Catholic upbringing that
trained me to have compassion for the poor and the
persecuted, to listen to the still, small voice within
me, and to stand firm in my convictions even when it
meant turning my back on the confused values of a
culture caught up in selfishness, hatred, and fear.
But today, when the Archdiocese of Boston is using the
full weight of its influence to pressure the state of
Massachusetts to deny loving couples the right to
marry just because both partners are of the same sex,
the only way to remain true to the upbringing is to
separate myself from the church, publicly declaring
that it does not and can not speak in my name.
The church claims to be defending Christian teachings
by insisting that a marriage can only be between a man
and a woman – but Jesus never said anything to condemn
the love between two women or two men. The closest
he comes to speaking about the relationship between
two people is to say that he is present whenever two
or more people are gathered in his name. Where does
this church find Biblical authority for this teaching?
If the church were to cite early Jewish marriage
laws rooted in the Old Testament, in order to be
consistent it would also have to require widows to
marry their brothers-in-law under certain conditions.
Neither Christians nor Jews follow the letter of these
ancient marriage laws today, recognizing them as
archaic legal codes with little or no theological
grounding. Or is it from the letters of Paul, which
were meant as commentaries on Jesus’s teachings for
communities scattered across the Mediterranean in the
first century? Does the church then also hold up
Paul’s teaching that wives must be subject to their
husbands? Or for that matter does it condemn men who
have long hair as Paul does in the first letter to the
Corinthians. No, the church recognizes that Paul’s
views on gender existed with a specific historical and
cultural context.
Jesus was friend to adulterers and tax collectors,
breaking the religious and civil laws of his day by
sharing meals with outcasts, declaring a new law of
love. Where would he be today – with canon lawyers
who search the scripture for reasons to condemn people
for their love and church leaders who try to impose
their own definition of marriage on a secular civil
society, or with people condemned by the world for
seeking a way to publicly declare their commitment to
love each other for the rest of their lives, who risk
violence and discrimination by publicly showing their
love for each other?
Equally troubling is the lack of any sense of
proportion church leaders are showing. After the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that
marriage laws that excluded same sex couples were
unconstitutional, the state’s Roman Catholic Bishops
declared the ruling “a national tragedy” (despite the
fact that the ruling would have no effect whatsoever
on what kind of marriages the church decided to
consecrate.) These same Bishops have held press
conferences, sent letters to thousands of Catholics,
and organized “Defense of Marriage” meetings to try to
pressure the legislature to amend the state
constitution to ban same sex marriages. But when the
U.S. government killed over 4,000 civilians in
Afghanistan, the church was silent. When the U.S.
launched a war of aggression against Iraq, you had to
look long and hard to find these Bishops’ mild and
measured statements of concern. Archbishop O’Malley
is famous for his work with the homeless, but when has
he ever called homelessness “a national tragedy”? Why
isn’t the Archdiocese clamoring for a constitutional
amendment declaring the right to food, housing and
health care? The church in Massachusetts has placed
a higher value on imposing its view of marriage on
non-Catholics than it has on defending human life.
I haven’t been a practicing Catholic for many years.
I’ve looked instead to the practices of my Irish
ancestors who integrated Jesus’s teachings on love and
justice with older, Druidic beliefs that honored the
sacredness of all life, the cycles of Earth, sun, and
moon, and both the masculine and feminine aspects of
the divine. I’m most apt to call myself a pagan
because most pagans welcome me with open arms while
many Christians tell me it is heresy to honor both
Jesus and Brigid as expressions and aspects of the
same divinity.
But staying away from the church is no longer enough,
in a time when the church rejects loving couples
because both members are of the same sex, I have to
call on the church to reject me too – I cannot stay in
a church that would reject my lesbian and gay sisters
and brothers anymore than I could stay in a Church
that would reject people because of the color of their
skin. If Jesus lived today, he would teach love, and
that teaching would get him excommunicated. And so I
say: take my name off your rolls, I will no longer be
counted as a Catholic. Excommunicate me.
Sean Donahue is a poet, healer, peace activist, and
freelance writer who lives in Lawrence, MA. He can be
reached at karunaawakeningataol.com.
I sent this article as a letter to the editor of
several publications today.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: EXCOMMUNICATE
ME
My conscience was formed by a Catholic upbringing that
trained me to have compassion for the poor and the
persecuted, to listen to the still, small voice within
me, and to stand firm in my convictions even when it
meant turning my back on the confused values of a
culture caught up in selfishness, hatred, and fear.
But today, when the Archdiocese of Boston is using the
full weight of its influence to pressure the state of
Massachusetts to deny loving couples the right to
marry just because both partners are of the same sex,
the only way to remain true to the upbringing is to
separate myself from the church, publicly declaring
that it does not and can not speak in my name.
The church claims to be defending Christian teachings
by insisting that a marriage can only be between a man
and a woman – but Jesus never said anything to condemn
the love between two women or two men. The closest
he comes to speaking about the relationship between
two people is to say that he is present whenever two
or more people are gathered in his name. Where does
this church find Biblical authority for this teaching?
If the church were to cite early Jewish marriage
laws rooted in the Old Testament, in order to be
consistent it would also have to require widows to
marry their brothers-in-law under certain conditions.
Neither Christians nor Jews follow the letter of these
ancient marriage laws today, recognizing them as
archaic legal codes with little or no theological
grounding. Or is it from the letters of Paul, which
were meant as commentaries on Jesus’s teachings for
communities scattered across the Mediterranean in the
first century? Does the church then also hold up
Paul’s teaching that wives must be subject to their
husbands? Or for that matter does it condemn men who
have long hair as Paul does in the first letter to the
Corinthians. No, the church recognizes that Paul’s
views on gender existed with a specific historical and
cultural context.
Jesus was friend to adulterers and tax collectors,
breaking the religious and civil laws of his day by
sharing meals with outcasts, declaring a new law of
love. Where would he be today – with canon lawyers
who search the scripture for reasons to condemn people
for their love and church leaders who try to impose
their own definition of marriage on a secular civil
society, or with people condemned by the world for
seeking a way to publicly declare their commitment to
love each other for the rest of their lives, who risk
violence and discrimination by publicly showing their
love for each other?
Equally troubling is the lack of any sense of
proportion church leaders are showing. After the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that
marriage laws that excluded same sex couples were
unconstitutional, the state’s Roman Catholic Bishops
declared the ruling “a national tragedy” (despite the
fact that the ruling would have no effect whatsoever
on what kind of marriages the church decided to
consecrate.) These same Bishops have held press
conferences, sent letters to thousands of Catholics,
and organized “Defense of Marriage” meetings to try to
pressure the legislature to amend the state
constitution to ban same sex marriages. But when the
U.S. government killed over 4,000 civilians in
Afghanistan, the church was silent. When the U.S.
launched a war of aggression against Iraq, you had to
look long and hard to find these Bishops’ mild and
measured statements of concern. Archbishop O’Malley
is famous for his work with the homeless, but when has
he ever called homelessness “a national tragedy”? Why
isn’t the Archdiocese clamoring for a constitutional
amendment declaring the right to food, housing and
health care? The church in Massachusetts has placed
a higher value on imposing its view of marriage on
non-Catholics than it has on defending human life.
I haven’t been a practicing Catholic for many years.
I’ve looked instead to the practices of my Irish
ancestors who integrated Jesus’s teachings on love and
justice with older, Druidic beliefs that honored the
sacredness of all life, the cycles of Earth, sun, and
moon, and both the masculine and feminine aspects of
the divine. I’m most apt to call myself a pagan
because most pagans welcome me with open arms while
many Christians tell me it is heresy to honor both
Jesus and Brigid as expressions and aspects of the
same divinity.
But staying away from the church is no longer enough,
in a time when the church rejects loving couples
because both members are of the same sex, I have to
call on the church to reject me too – I cannot stay in
a church that would reject my lesbian and gay sisters
and brothers anymore than I could stay in a Church
that would reject people because of the color of their
skin. If Jesus lived today, he would teach love, and
that teaching would get him excommunicated. And so I
say: take my name off your rolls, I will no longer be
counted as a Catholic. Excommunicate me.
Sean Donahue is a poet, healer, peace activist, and
freelance writer who lives in Lawrence, MA. He can be
reached at karunaawakeningataol.com.
belief-o-matic
and speaking of religious things, this is how the online tool belief-o-matic
helped me to be confident of my spiritual path. :) interesting to note that what i follow now is polarized at the end of the list from what i used to be. in case you didn't know, i was a catholic school girl!
1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. Mahayana Buddhism (89%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (89%)
4. New Age (86%)
5. Liberal Quakers (78%)
6. Theravada Buddhism (75%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (68%)
8. Hinduism (67%)
9. New Thought (66%)
10. Taoism (63%)
11. Jainism (62%)
12. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (61%)
13. Scientology (58%)
14. Secular Humanism (54%)
15. Sikhism (48%)
16. Bahá'à Faith (45%)
17. Reform Judaism (43%)
18. Orthodox Quaker (41%)
19. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (35%)
20. Nontheist (30%)
21. Jehovah's Witness (26%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (25%)
23. Orthodox Judaism (20%)
24. Seventh Day Adventist (15%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (11%)
26. Islam (11%)
27. Roman Catholic (11%)
helped me to be confident of my spiritual path. :) interesting to note that what i follow now is polarized at the end of the list from what i used to be. in case you didn't know, i was a catholic school girl!
1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. Mahayana Buddhism (89%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (89%)
4. New Age (86%)
5. Liberal Quakers (78%)
6. Theravada Buddhism (75%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (68%)
8. Hinduism (67%)
9. New Thought (66%)
10. Taoism (63%)
11. Jainism (62%)
12. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (61%)
13. Scientology (58%)
14. Secular Humanism (54%)
15. Sikhism (48%)
16. Bahá'à Faith (45%)
17. Reform Judaism (43%)
18. Orthodox Quaker (41%)
19. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (35%)
20. Nontheist (30%)
21. Jehovah's Witness (26%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (25%)
23. Orthodox Judaism (20%)
24. Seventh Day Adventist (15%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (11%)
26. Islam (11%)
27. Roman Catholic (11%)
imbolc remembered
from the irish emigrant:
Yesterday was the feast of St Brigid and, on a trip to Donegal, I discovered that the tradition of making St Brigid's Crosses from rushes on the eve of the feast day is still alive and well. At least one cross is hung on the wall in the home and others placed in farm outhouses. On Saturday evening we were in my sister's house where they were being made and I managed a couple myself. I also had to take a bundle of rushes back out to Moville where they were delivered to two more houses where the tradition continues.
st. brigid's roots lie in the ancient celtic goddess of the same name. said to be the triple goddess of healing, poetry, and smithcraft, it is good to see she is still recognized. imbolc is one of the four major celtic sabbats, celebrating the return of milk to the ewes, the growing strength of the sun, and therefore the beginning of the return to spring. monday night i placed a small bowl of cream and a red candle outside in my herb garden to honor her day.
Yesterday was the feast of St Brigid and, on a trip to Donegal, I discovered that the tradition of making St Brigid's Crosses from rushes on the eve of the feast day is still alive and well. At least one cross is hung on the wall in the home and others placed in farm outhouses. On Saturday evening we were in my sister's house where they were being made and I managed a couple myself. I also had to take a bundle of rushes back out to Moville where they were delivered to two more houses where the tradition continues.
st. brigid's roots lie in the ancient celtic goddess of the same name. said to be the triple goddess of healing, poetry, and smithcraft, it is good to see she is still recognized. imbolc is one of the four major celtic sabbats, celebrating the return of milk to the ewes, the growing strength of the sun, and therefore the beginning of the return to spring. monday night i placed a small bowl of cream and a red candle outside in my herb garden to honor her day.
Censure King George
From the MoveOn folks:
Dear MoveOn member,
During the buildup to war, President Bush said the United States "must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.... We have every reason to assume the worst, and we have an urgent duty to prevent the worst from occurring." 1
On the eve of sending troops into battle, Bush asserted that "intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." 2
Now David Kay, the CIA’s chief weapons inspector, has testified before Congress that these weapons do not exist.
In an attempt to evade responsibility for the misleading statements that pushed the nation into war, Bush has announced plans to form an independent inquiry to look into what went wrong. An inquiry would serve the Bush administration well: it would envelop the issue in a fog of uncertainty, deflect blame onto the intelligence services, and delay any political damage until 2005, after the upcoming election. 3
But the facts need no clarification. Despite repeated warnings from the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency, President Bush and his administration hyped and distorted the threat that Iraq posed. 4 And now that reality is setting in, the President wants to pin the blame on someone else. We can't let him.
Congress has the power to censure the President -- to formally reprimand him for betraying the nation's trust. If ever there was a time for this, it's now. Join our call on Congress to censure President Bush at:
http://www.moveon.org/censure/
It's clear that we’ve been misled:
* David Kay said last week, "I'm personally convinced that there were not large stockpiles of newly produced weapons of mass destruction," and "We don't find the people, the documents or the physical plants that you would expect to find if the production was going on." 5 Kay said these things shortly after resigning from his post as Bush's chief weapons inspector in Iraq.
* Bush, in his 2003 State of the Union address, said, "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." 6 Yet Ambassador Joe Wilson, who was sent to Niger in February 2002 to determine whether Iraq was trying to purchase uranium materials there, concluded that "intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat." 7
* A CIA report in February 2003 said: "We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since [1998] to reconstitute its Weapons of Mass Destruction programs." 8
It's also clear that the misleading was deliberate:
* The respected Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently found that the administration "systematically misrepresented the threat" from Iraq. 9
* The basis for President Bush's African uranium claim was known at the time to be forged and not credible.10 "Top White House officials knew that the CIA seriously disputed the claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium in Africa long before the claim was included in Bush's January address to the nation," according to the Washington Post.11
* Secretary of State Colin Powell became alarmed at the level of intelligence distortion. When he read the first draft of his speech to the UN -- prepared for Powell by Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff -- he was so upset that he lost his temper, throwing several pages in the air and declaring, "I'm not reading this. This is bullsh--."12
Our democracy only works when we know the truth. We now know President Bush and his administration deliberately misled Congress and the American people. Censure is the least we should expect in response.
The independent inquiry will need a year or more to come to a conclusion, according to the Bush administration. It took less time than that for the country to go to war. We don't need more investigation, we need accountability, and we need it now.
Join our call on Congress to censure President Bush at:
http://www.moveon.org/censure/
We'll be holding a press conference in Washington on Thursday, announcing our campaign for Censure. If you sign on now, we can count your signature at the press conference. Please sign on right away.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
- Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Laura, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn.org Team
Tuesday, February 3, 2004
Footnotes:
1. Washington Post, January 28, 2004
2. Official White House transcript, March 17, 2003
3. Washington Post, February 2, 2004
4. An excellent, comprehensive rundown on the Bush administration's deliberate distortion of intelligence is available from the Center for American Progress
5. New York Times, January 26, 2004
6. Official White House transcript, January 28, 2003
7. Joseph Wilson Op-Ed, New York Times, July 6, 2003
Note: Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, had her CIA cover blown, possibly by the White House, in apparent retaliation for Wilson's contradicting the White House's line on WMDs.
8. MSNBC News, Oct. 24, 2003
9. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report, "WMD in Iraq: Evidence and Implications", January, 2004
10. New York Times, July 8, 2003
11. Washington Post News Service, July 23, 2003
12. US News & World Report, June 9, 2003
Note: This article with the Powell quote is available for purchase from the US News & World Report archives for $2.95.
Dear MoveOn member,
During the buildup to war, President Bush said the United States "must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.... We have every reason to assume the worst, and we have an urgent duty to prevent the worst from occurring." 1
On the eve of sending troops into battle, Bush asserted that "intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." 2
Now David Kay, the CIA’s chief weapons inspector, has testified before Congress that these weapons do not exist.
In an attempt to evade responsibility for the misleading statements that pushed the nation into war, Bush has announced plans to form an independent inquiry to look into what went wrong. An inquiry would serve the Bush administration well: it would envelop the issue in a fog of uncertainty, deflect blame onto the intelligence services, and delay any political damage until 2005, after the upcoming election. 3
But the facts need no clarification. Despite repeated warnings from the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency, President Bush and his administration hyped and distorted the threat that Iraq posed. 4 And now that reality is setting in, the President wants to pin the blame on someone else. We can't let him.
Congress has the power to censure the President -- to formally reprimand him for betraying the nation's trust. If ever there was a time for this, it's now. Join our call on Congress to censure President Bush at:
http://www.moveon.org/censure/
It's clear that we’ve been misled:
* David Kay said last week, "I'm personally convinced that there were not large stockpiles of newly produced weapons of mass destruction," and "We don't find the people, the documents or the physical plants that you would expect to find if the production was going on." 5 Kay said these things shortly after resigning from his post as Bush's chief weapons inspector in Iraq.
* Bush, in his 2003 State of the Union address, said, "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." 6 Yet Ambassador Joe Wilson, who was sent to Niger in February 2002 to determine whether Iraq was trying to purchase uranium materials there, concluded that "intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat." 7
* A CIA report in February 2003 said: "We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since [1998] to reconstitute its Weapons of Mass Destruction programs." 8
It's also clear that the misleading was deliberate:
* The respected Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently found that the administration "systematically misrepresented the threat" from Iraq. 9
* The basis for President Bush's African uranium claim was known at the time to be forged and not credible.10 "Top White House officials knew that the CIA seriously disputed the claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium in Africa long before the claim was included in Bush's January address to the nation," according to the Washington Post.11
* Secretary of State Colin Powell became alarmed at the level of intelligence distortion. When he read the first draft of his speech to the UN -- prepared for Powell by Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff -- he was so upset that he lost his temper, throwing several pages in the air and declaring, "I'm not reading this. This is bullsh--."12
Our democracy only works when we know the truth. We now know President Bush and his administration deliberately misled Congress and the American people. Censure is the least we should expect in response.
The independent inquiry will need a year or more to come to a conclusion, according to the Bush administration. It took less time than that for the country to go to war. We don't need more investigation, we need accountability, and we need it now.
Join our call on Congress to censure President Bush at:
http://www.moveon.org/censure/
We'll be holding a press conference in Washington on Thursday, announcing our campaign for Censure. If you sign on now, we can count your signature at the press conference. Please sign on right away.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
- Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Laura, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn.org Team
Tuesday, February 3, 2004
Footnotes:
1. Washington Post, January 28, 2004
2. Official White House transcript, March 17, 2003
3. Washington Post, February 2, 2004
4. An excellent, comprehensive rundown on the Bush administration's deliberate distortion of intelligence is available from the Center for American Progress
5. New York Times, January 26, 2004
6. Official White House transcript, January 28, 2003
7. Joseph Wilson Op-Ed, New York Times, July 6, 2003
Note: Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, had her CIA cover blown, possibly by the White House, in apparent retaliation for Wilson's contradicting the White House's line on WMDs.
8. MSNBC News, Oct. 24, 2003
9. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report, "WMD in Iraq: Evidence and Implications", January, 2004
10. New York Times, July 8, 2003
11. Washington Post News Service, July 23, 2003
12. US News & World Report, June 9, 2003
Note: This article with the Powell quote is available for purchase from the US News & World Report archives for $2.95.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
The Myth of High Drug Research Costs
from Blogcritics.org: this is an interesting and explanatory article on the bloated costs of prescription medicine.......
The Awesome Destructive Power of the Corporate Media
an article from dissident voice about the powers of our corporate media, which i try like hell to ignore completely.
TiVo Users Couldn't Get Enough of Janet Jackson
Yahoo! Newswhat is wrong with the world?
the fact that the most engrossing part of the super bowl was when a man ripped off parts of a woman's clothes is something i find greatly disturbing, and all too telling of our culture. the other two most popular moments were inane ads for beer. i have been told that more domestic violence cases are reported on super bowl sunday than any other day of the year. i am going to have to research that claim.
the fact that the most engrossing part of the super bowl was when a man ripped off parts of a woman's clothes is something i find greatly disturbing, and all too telling of our culture. the other two most popular moments were inane ads for beer. i have been told that more domestic violence cases are reported on super bowl sunday than any other day of the year. i am going to have to research that claim.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Food Safety
how to avoid genetically engineered food at the mothers for natural law site. good stuff. eat well. be well.
Social Action - Monsanto's Terminator Technology Page
oh this is insane. auto-botanical-abortion? we really are going to destroy the planet, aren't we? read this.
thanks to WWR and the J-Walk blog.
thanks to WWR and the J-Walk blog.
toilet humour
on the lighter side of things.......
i have a terrible affection for toilet humour. and the word poo is one of my favorites, as some of you may already be aware. therefore i thougt the following letter to the village voice "savage love" column and subsequent response was ridiculously funny. i should not have read it at work. got lots of strange looks when i burst out into those funny squeaks of laughter you'll erupt into when your trying to hold it in but just can't......
Savage Love
by Dan Savage
January 28 - February 3, 2004
You and your readers have been talking about poo-eating for a long time now. I would like to offer up an alternative that I think is kind of neat. Take a standard condom, fill it with peanut butter, twist the bottom, and insert into your ass (making sure to not let go). When the moment is right, untwist the bottom, release, bear down, and POO! Well, OK, not quite, but it certainly provides an alternative that might satisfy both the poo eater and also his bacterially minded sex partner. Let me know what you think. —I Can't Believe It's Not Poo
Gee, ICBINP, I don't recall discussing poo eaters recently, nor have I printed any questions from people looking to fake their way through a big poo-eating orgy. I also think your premise is faulty, freako. Those of us who aren't interested in the erotic possibilities of crap aren't going to leap at the chance to fake shit-play. I once gave a recipe for faux poo for the bacterially minded—mashed potatoes mixed with a drop or two of butyric acid—but it didn't prompt a run on potato futures. For most people, if it looks like poo and smells like poo, it's going to be revolting to handle even if it isn't poo. Likewise, if it drops out of someone's ass, looks like poo, has the consistency of poo, and is one of the colors poo comes in, most right-thinking people will be revolted, even if it's peanut butter. But thanks for sharing.
i have a terrible affection for toilet humour. and the word poo is one of my favorites, as some of you may already be aware. therefore i thougt the following letter to the village voice "savage love" column and subsequent response was ridiculously funny. i should not have read it at work. got lots of strange looks when i burst out into those funny squeaks of laughter you'll erupt into when your trying to hold it in but just can't......
Savage Love
by Dan Savage
January 28 - February 3, 2004
You and your readers have been talking about poo-eating for a long time now. I would like to offer up an alternative that I think is kind of neat. Take a standard condom, fill it with peanut butter, twist the bottom, and insert into your ass (making sure to not let go). When the moment is right, untwist the bottom, release, bear down, and POO! Well, OK, not quite, but it certainly provides an alternative that might satisfy both the poo eater and also his bacterially minded sex partner. Let me know what you think. —I Can't Believe It's Not Poo
Gee, ICBINP, I don't recall discussing poo eaters recently, nor have I printed any questions from people looking to fake their way through a big poo-eating orgy. I also think your premise is faulty, freako. Those of us who aren't interested in the erotic possibilities of crap aren't going to leap at the chance to fake shit-play. I once gave a recipe for faux poo for the bacterially minded—mashed potatoes mixed with a drop or two of butyric acid—but it didn't prompt a run on potato futures. For most people, if it looks like poo and smells like poo, it's going to be revolting to handle even if it isn't poo. Likewise, if it drops out of someone's ass, looks like poo, has the consistency of poo, and is one of the colors poo comes in, most right-thinking people will be revolted, even if it's peanut butter. But thanks for sharing.
more weirdness at wal-mart
and this is a little scary.......
i think i'm going to step up my efforts at self-sufficiency. looks like i have to start making my own clothes too, along with my beer and mead, and photographic emulsions, and vegetables........
i think i'm going to step up my efforts at self-sufficiency. looks like i have to start making my own clothes too, along with my beer and mead, and photographic emulsions, and vegetables........
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
action alerts for the day
take a look at these petitions i feel are important:
1. Pledge Not to Buy a Ford until Ford Builds Climate Friendly Vehicles
http://www.care2.com/go/z/10915/1064
Ford vehicles create more global warming pollution than virtually any company in the world. In fact, "Some Ford vehicles create more daily global warming pollution than an entire family's home energy use" (Bluewater Network). We need your help to turn the tide.
Instead of improving to protect the planet, Bill Ford Jr. is breaking his promises. He reneged on his pledge to boost SUV mileage by 25%, and personally lobbied Congress against improving the nation's fuel mileage standards. And despite promises to lead the industry towards sustainability, his company's vehicles are some of the least efficient in the nation. The 2003 Ford Excursion gets as little as 10 mpg!
Send Bill Ford Jr. a pledge - tell him you won't buy a Ford vehicle (including Volvo, Mazda, Jaguar, and Land/Range Rover) until his company builds climate-friendly vehicles and convinces Congress to double the nation's fuel mileage standards.
Sign this petition:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/10915/1064
2. New Sonar Threat to Whales
http://www.care2.com/go/z/10904/1035
Low Frequency Active (LFA) sonar in the oceans is proven to injure whales and dolphins. LFA noise is millions of times more intense than is considered safe for human divers and billions of times more intense than levels known to disturb large whales.
In March, 2000, during a Mid- range frequency (weaker than the Low Frequency bandwidth of LFAS) test in the Bahamas, four different species of whales and dolphins beached themselves suffering from hemorrhaging/bleeding in the ears. A National Marine Fisheries Service and Navy investigation determined the deaths were almost certainly caused by the LFA test. A follow-on study in February 2001, determined that at least one of those whale species no longer existed in the area.
But now there is a new sonar threat. A federal judge ruled that marine biologists could keep testing a sonar system for detecting deep-sea whales, despite environmentalists' fears that the noise will harm marine wildlife and interfere with the annual winter migration of gray whales.
Environmental groups contended that the high-frequency sound could distress and disorient whales, drive them from their habitat and separate calves from their mothers.
Sign this petition and support a ban on this dangerous sonar testing, both for the Navy and marine biologists:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/10904/1035
1. Pledge Not to Buy a Ford until Ford Builds Climate Friendly Vehicles
http://www.care2.com/go/z/10915/1064
Ford vehicles create more global warming pollution than virtually any company in the world. In fact, "Some Ford vehicles create more daily global warming pollution than an entire family's home energy use" (Bluewater Network). We need your help to turn the tide.
Instead of improving to protect the planet, Bill Ford Jr. is breaking his promises. He reneged on his pledge to boost SUV mileage by 25%, and personally lobbied Congress against improving the nation's fuel mileage standards. And despite promises to lead the industry towards sustainability, his company's vehicles are some of the least efficient in the nation. The 2003 Ford Excursion gets as little as 10 mpg!
Send Bill Ford Jr. a pledge - tell him you won't buy a Ford vehicle (including Volvo, Mazda, Jaguar, and Land/Range Rover) until his company builds climate-friendly vehicles and convinces Congress to double the nation's fuel mileage standards.
Sign this petition:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/10915/1064
2. New Sonar Threat to Whales
http://www.care2.com/go/z/10904/1035
Low Frequency Active (LFA) sonar in the oceans is proven to injure whales and dolphins. LFA noise is millions of times more intense than is considered safe for human divers and billions of times more intense than levels known to disturb large whales.
In March, 2000, during a Mid- range frequency (weaker than the Low Frequency bandwidth of LFAS) test in the Bahamas, four different species of whales and dolphins beached themselves suffering from hemorrhaging/bleeding in the ears. A National Marine Fisheries Service and Navy investigation determined the deaths were almost certainly caused by the LFA test. A follow-on study in February 2001, determined that at least one of those whale species no longer existed in the area.
But now there is a new sonar threat. A federal judge ruled that marine biologists could keep testing a sonar system for detecting deep-sea whales, despite environmentalists' fears that the noise will harm marine wildlife and interfere with the annual winter migration of gray whales.
Environmental groups contended that the high-frequency sound could distress and disorient whales, drive them from their habitat and separate calves from their mothers.
Sign this petition and support a ban on this dangerous sonar testing, both for the Navy and marine biologists:
http://www.care2.com/go/z/10904/1035
Tales from the Weird Alert
article about a girl who has x-ray eyes. or rather, is psychic and can sense where injuries are located on your body.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
"I Love Kucinich But He Can't Win"
top ten responses to this oft-heard quotehere. YAY! I voted in the primary today. guess who i cast my vote for?
What They Left Behind
a creepy article by Jennifer Gonnerman from the Village Voice. i am very intrigued by the history of the mental health institution. i echo the comments of the women quoted here - in a different time i could have been locked up interminably. scary.
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