Through the Darkest of Nights: Testament XV

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Every few days over the next several months I will be posting installments of a novel about life, death, war and politics in America since 9/11.  Through the Darkest of Nights is a story of hope, reflection, determination, and redemption.  It is a testament to the progressive values we all believe in, have always defended, and always will defend no matter how long this darkness lasts.  But most of all, it is a search for identity and meaning in an empty world.

Naked and alone we came into exile.  In her dark womb, we did not know our mother’s face; from the prison of her flesh have we come into the unspeakable and incommunicable prison of this earth.  Which of us has known his brother?  Which of us has looked into his father’s heart?  Which of us has not remained prison-pent?  Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?      ~Thomas Wolfe

All installments are available for reading here on Docudharma’s Series page, and also here on Docudharma’s Fiction Page, where refuge from politicians, blogging overload, and one BushCo outrage after another can always be found.

Through the Darkest of Nights

Fire and Ice

    Shannon glared at Travis as he walked towards her across the hotel lobby. He smiled when he reached her, it was a confident smile, a smile most women found irresistible.  “Hello Shannon.  It’s good to see you.”

    “Tell me why you’re stalking me.”

    Travis’s irresistible smile faded.  “Your hostility disappoints me, Shannon.  I’ve come all this way just to talk to you, and you won’t even say hello.  All I get is a cold stare and colder words.”

    “Get used to it.”

    “So that’s how it’s going to be.”

    “You’re stalking me, Travis, I’m supposed to appreciate that?”

    “I’m not stalking you, Shannon, I’m here because I’m worried about you.”

    “You should be worried about your mental health.  This is insane.  Why are you doing this?  What’s the matter with you?”

    “I love you.  I know you love me.”  

    “Your delusions are of no interest to me, Travis.   Did you call your uncle, is that how you found me?”  

    “I don’t want to discuss this here . . . ”  Travis glanced at the desk clerk and saw him watching them with a look of disapproval.  “There’s a nice bar just off the lobby, we can have a drink and get this sorted out.”

    “I don’t want a drink, I want answers.”  

    “So do I.  But we can’t talk here.”

    Shannon walked out into the parking lot and Travis followed her.  “OK.  Talk to me, Travis.”

    “My uncle called me last Friday.  The DHS has you on a watch list, Shannon.  Giving that seditious speech in D.C. wasn’t exactly the best idea you’ve ever had.”

    “Seditious?  You can’t be serious.”

    “I shouldn’t have to explain this, but it looks like I have to.  Fine.  I’ll explain it.  America’s changing.  The world is changing.  Wealth and power are being concentrated, free market democratic systems are dying and civil liberties are dying along with them.  It was inevitable.  The nature of capitalism, political realities, economic realities, human nature, they’re all combining to produce this concentration of wealth and power.”  

    “It’s fascism, Travis.  No one dares call it that, but that’s what it is.  Through and through.  To the core.”

    “I’m just telling you–”

   “I’m not deaf.  I heard you.  Wealth and power are just being concentrated, that’s all.  It’s natural, it’s inevitable. Well so is cancer after a cancer diagnosis.  The cancer cells concentrate, no big deal, it’s nothing to worry about, they just concentrate into tumors and kill people.”

    “Calm down, Shannon.”

    “These people are fascists, Travis.  So don’t tell me to calm down.  I’m not going to just sit back and watch them concentrate the whole world into a thousand year corporate reich.”

    “When are you going to grow up?  

    “When are you going to shut up and start listening?  You have no soul, Travis.  I look at you and all I see is three dollars worth of chemicals, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt.  Just leave.  Haul your conquering hero ass out of this parking lot, go back to that army base and ride around in your tank, or whatever it is you do when you’re not stalking women.”

    “Who are you to be telling me what to do?”

    “Who are you to be telling me anything?   You’re stalking me like some lunatic.”  

    “Quit accusing me of that, I’m not stalking you, Shannon, I came here hoping to talk some sense into you.  This ridiculous peace activism of yours is a waste of time, you’ll accomplish nothing, except to make a spectacle of yourself.  Can’t you see that?”

    “I’ll tell you what I see, Travis.  I see fascism.  New and improved for the 21st Century, upgraded for modern consumption, malevolent as ever and staring us all in the face.  That’s what I see.  I see sanctified nationalism, demonizing dissent as treason, contempt for human rights, media propaganda.  Everywhere.  Fraudulent elections, corporate power expanded, labor power suppressed,  relentless intrusion of the power of the state.  That’s the spectacle I see.”

    “Well get used to it, it’s here to stay.”

    “No.  It’s not here to stay.  You and your fascist friends will have your spree, you’ll lie and bully and kill for years, but you’ll go down, and I’m one of the people who’ll take you down.”  

    Travis stared at Shannon.  She stared back.  “Tell that to your uncle, tell it to your father, and grandfather.  Tell it to all of them.”

    “I will.  In the meantime, I’ll tell you this, your friend has a rather unsavory past, Shannon.  Would you care to hear about it?”

    “Go to hell.”

    “Very unsavory, as a matter of fact.  My uncle has–”

    “He can fly out here too, as far as I’m concerned.  I have a few things to say to that pasty faced bureaucrat.  He can bring the whole damn Department of Homeland Security along with him.  We’ll sort a few things out, we’ll sort out that I’m not threatening America’s national security, he and his DHS stooges are, and I’ll damn well tell them so.”

    “Brave words.  It’s a pity you still haven’t figured out that words don’t matter anymore, Shannon.   Wealth and power are all that matter.”  Travis lowered his voice.  “Do you know what you’re getting into?  Do you know what could happen to you and your friend if you keep this up?”

    “Do you?”

    “Look, I’m trying to help you, I don’t want you to get into more trouble than you already are.  You’ve been advocating the overthrow of the government.  You’re-”

    “What government?  America has no government.  It’s gone.  It’s been concentrated into a war machine.”

    “Concentrate on this, the United States just rid the world of a murderous regime, thanks to President Bush.  We finally have a government, a government controlled at long last by conservatives, a government run by people who know how to use power, who know  it’s our destiny to expand American prestige and influence throughout the world, who know it’s our destiny to wage this war on terror.”

    “They’ll unleash their wars, create a wasteland in the Middle East, and call it peace.  Just like the Romans did.  War is terrorism, Travis.”

    “That’s nonsense.  War is necessary, it’s–”

    “This one wasn’t.”    

    “Saddam and al Qaeda plotted 9/11, we know that, we’ll prove it to the world.”

    “Well what are you waiting for?  FOX would love to broadcast all that proof you’ve got.”

    “We’ll find the proof, we’ll find the WMD.”

    “You won’t find any proof, there isn’t any.  You won’t find any WMD either, there isn’t any.  All you’ll find is a bloodbath.”

    “You’re just–”

    “A bloodbath.”  Shannon turned and walked to her car.  As she pulled away from her parking spot and drove out of the lot, Travis took his cell phone from his pocket and called her cell phone number.  She didn’t answer so he left a message . . .

There’s a limit to my patience, Shannon.

That limit has been reached.


         

Will Obama “Toughen Up” for the General Election? Can He?

One of the most profound questions regarding Obama is his approach and tenor towards those most of us around here consider the scum of the earth, the war criminals and torturers at the top of the Republican Party. John McCain is not much more than a replacement part for their Reign of Terror to continue unabated. And of course he is as full of shit as a row of portapotty’s after a three day rock concert and has held more positions than the KamaSutra.

An aggressive, attacking campaign posture will destroy his credibility, despite his protectors in the Merde Stream Media. The question is….will Obama attack? Or play the post-partisan, “reasonable” (in the face of Repub madess) nice guy?

Photobucket

We got a clue last night. These lovely words did NOT come out of Obama’s mouth, but from Obama spokesman Bill Burton.

h/t Scout Finch

“What’s reckless is continuing the Bush-McCain foreign policy that has cost us thousands of lives and a trillion dollars in Iraq, strengthened Iran, enabled Hamas to take Gaza, took our eye off al Qaeda, failed to capture Osama bin Laden, failed to finish the job in Afghanistan, and left us less safe and less respected in the world. No amount of utterly predictable fear-mongering and tough talk can change the fact that John McCain is running to continue the most disastrous foreign policy in recent American history,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

The press release of course, came in response to McCain coat-tailing Bush on his despicable “Nazi Appeasers” remarks in Israel:

   Earlier today, Sen. Obama made a few remarks I would like to respond to. I welcome a debate about protecting America. No issue is more important. Sen. Obama claimed all I had to offer was the ‘naive and irresponsible belief’ that tough talk would cause Iran to give up its nuclear program. He should know better. I have some news for Sen. Obama: Talking, not even with soaring rhetoric, in unconditional meetings with the man who calls Israel a ‘stinking corpse’ and arms terrorists who kill Americans will not convince Iran to give up its nuclear program. It is reckless to suggest that unconditional meetings will advance our interests.

   It would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don’t have enemies. But that is not the world we live in, and until Sen. Obama understands that reality, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment and determination to keep us safe.

The Rev. Wright fiasco (as overblown and media driven as it was) pointed up once again a real challenge the Obama candidacy faces. Right or wrong…Obama can NOT appear too angry during the campaign. Though the Wright brouhaha proved to have no significant traction in the polls or in the special elections where R’s used it in attack ads, the disgusting meme of the “Angry Negro” has been established now and is open for trading. Both by actual racists and those who will merely (and reprehensibly) use race to attack his candidacy.

Fortunately, Obama plays the role of reasonable reserve well and it does not look too weak on him, for the most part. And if played correctly it can be used greatly to his advantage as a contrast to one of McCain’s weak points, his legendary temper. It seems as if America is tired of bloviating tough guys and may be ready for someone reasonable, calm…and intelligent. Iow, not McCain!

But to make this work, Obama will need a bulldog, or a team of bulldogs, to issue the kid of press release we see above… and attack, attack, attack McCain. Hmmm, I seem to see a constructive role for the stinging vitriol blogosphere has exhibited during the candidate wars! (In addition to more prominent surrogates,) McCain needs a 100 Year War waged on his sorry ass, will the Obama team find a way to do it without Obama himself playing into the racist trap that has been set for him? His surrogate bulldogs will be one of the keys to this election.  

Pony Party: Your Morning Art

Pablo Neruda was a Chilean born poet, who had a diplomatic career, and was politically actively. A life long leftist, he was a communist who at one time extolled the virtues of Stalin and like many came to regret that. Neruda had to go into hiding at one point in his life.

He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

Read about Neruda here, here, and here.

So what are y’all doing this weekend? I have to balance fun with duty somehow. The house looks like a colony of giant rats has taken over.

Please don’t rec pony party, hang out, chit chat, and then go read the excellent offerings on our recent and rec’d list.

Docudharma Times Saturday May 17



Unlike A Flopping Fish Politician The News Here Is As It Should Be

Straight Forward

Saturday’s Headlines:  Obama Strikes Back at Bush On Diplomacy    Razor-sharp concertina wire installed at U.S.-Mexico border     Burma ‘guilty of inhuman action’   Beijing open to foreign aid and scrutiny in wake of tragedy    68% of Italians want Roma expelled – poll   EU may force car makers to reveal emissions in adverts    How picture phones have fuelled frenzy of honour killing in Iraq    Lebanese leaders gather in Qatar    Displaced Kenyans balk at government push to go home   Famine Looms as Wars Rend Horn of Africa    Shakira, other Latin American stars sing for their cause — ALAS

U.S. Planning Big New Prison in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.

The proposed detention center would replace the cavernous, makeshift American prison on the Bagram military base north of Kabul, which is now typically packed with about 630 prisoners, compared with the 270 held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Until now, the Bush administration had signaled that it intended to scale back American involvement in detention operations in Afghanistan. It had planned to transfer a large majority of the prisoners to Afghan custody, in an American-financed, high-security prison outside Kabul to be guarded by Afghan soldiers.

USA

Obama Strikes Back at Bush On Diplomacy

WATERTOWN, S.D., May 16 — Sen. Barack Obama pushed back Friday against President Bush’s implicit criticism of his approach to foreign policy, condemning his administration for not capturing Osama bin Laden and blaming its Iraq war policy for strengthening and emboldening Iran.

An animated Obama, cheered on by a crowd gathered on the floor of a livestock arena, said he would be delighted if the presidential race turned into a conversation about which party is better suited to guide the nation’s foreign policy.

Razor-sharp concertina wire installed at U.S.-Mexico border

The U.S. says its use on an eventual 5-mile stretch of existing fence is to protect agents. But critics say it disregards immigrants’ safety.

SAN DIEGO — — The U.S. Border Patrol is installing razor-sharp concertina wire atop border fencing between San Diego and Tijuana, marking a major shift in approach along a frequently violent stretch of the frontier.

The triple-strand wire, meant to keep smugglers from attacking agents, will stretch five miles when completed this summer — the longest expanse of this type of wire ever used on the Southwest border.

Federal authorities in the past have avoided using fortifications with such negative symbolism. Hundreds of miles of barriers going up in other areas have had to meet “aesthetically pleasing” federal design standards.

Critics say the new approach is inhumane and could leave illegal immigrants bloodied.

Border officials in San Diego say it was necessary and already is proving effective.

Asia

Burma ‘guilty of inhuman action’

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned Burma’s military government for not allowing international aid to reach the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

Mr Brown told the BBC that a natural disaster had been turned into a “man-made catastrophe” because of the negligence of the ruling generals.

There is growing condemnation of Burma’s response to the 2 May cyclone, said to have killed at least 78,000.

France has said Burma is on the verge of committing a crime against humanity.

France and the US both have ships carrying large consignments of aid waiting off the Burmese coast, but so far the government has refused to allow relief aid arriving by sea directly to the worst affected areas.

Beijing open to foreign aid and scrutiny in wake of tragedy

The earthquake could accelerate liberalisation by China’s government, which has been more open to domestic criticism and foreign help than in previous natural disasters, Chinese officials said yesterday.

For the first time, Beijing has accepted aid from abroad and invited rescue teams from Japan, Russia, South Korea, Singapore and even Taiwanese charities. US offers of direct assistance were declined but China’s embassy in Washington encouraged Americans to send cash and supplies, a distinct break with the past.

Western journalists have been waved through police checkpoints around the epicentre, another sharp contrast to the practice 10 years ago when thousands of Chinese villagers were killed by flooding of the Yangtze river. Then, western journalists were turned back, and the government suppressed casualty figures.

This time, the government has provided speedy updates on casualties and Chinese leaders have toured the areas worst hit by the earthquake, in a hands-on style more commonly associated with western politicians.

Europe

68% of Italians want Roma expelled – poll

· Government accused of stoking racial tension

· Yobs boast of ethnic cleansing after attacks


Sixty-eight per cent of Italians, fuelled by often inflammatory attacks by the new rightwing government, want to see all of the country’s 150,000 Gypsies, many of them Italian citizens, expelled, according to an opinion poll.

The survey, published as mobs in Naples burned down Gypsy camps this week, revealed that the majority also wanted all Gypsy camps in Italy to be demolished .

About 70,000 Gypsies in Italy hold Italian passports, including about 30,000 descended from 15th-century Gypsy settlers in the country. The remainder have arrived since, many fleeing the Balkans during the 1990s.

Another 10,000 Gypsies came from Romania after it joined the European Union in January 2007, according to an Italian human rights organisation, EveryOne, part of the approximately half million Romanians believed to be in Italy.

EU may force car makers to reveal emissions in adverts

The European Union is preparing to introduce tough new rules on car advertising, forcing manufacturers to include conspicuous and easily understood information about petrol consumption and emissions.

The new line follows the EU’s decision to exert ever-greater control on the way that tobacco, alcohol and food products can be advertised, counterbalancing the claims and sales lines of advertisers with warnings about the health implications of their products.

Details of the proposal to compel car manufacturers to own up to the carbon footprint of their vehicles will be unveiled by the end of the month, after which the politicians and car industry representatives will discuss them for the first time. As well as spelling out the environmental implications of the cars, the draft regulations are said by Der Spiegel magazine to require manufacturers to put a brake on the prose and the images used to imprint the desirability of their latest models. Any reference to sportiness will apparently be frowned on.

Middle East

How picture phones have fuelled frenzy of honour killing in Iraq

By Patrick Cockburn in Sulaymaniyah

Saturday, 17 May 2008


A dark pool of dried blood and a fallen red scarf mark the place where Ronak, who had fled to a woman’s shelter in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah when she was accused of adultery by her husband, was shot three times by a man hiding on the roof of a nearby building.

Ronak was wounded by bullets in the neck, side and leg and only survived after a four-hour operation. She was the latest victim of a huge increase across Iraq in the number of “honour” killings of women for alleged immorality by their own families.

Many are burnt to death by having petrol or paraffin poured over them and set ablaze. Others are shot or strangled. The United Nations estimates that at least 255 women died in honour-related killings in Kurdistan, home to one fifth of Iraqis, in the first six months of 2007 alone.

Lebanese leaders gather in Qatar

Lebanon’s rival political leaders have begun talks in the Gulf state of Qatar aimed at pulling the country back from the brink of civil war.

Fighting between pro-government groups and the Hezbollah-led opposition last week left at least 65 people dead.

After the Lebanese government reversed moves aimed at curbing Hezbollah, the group agreed to join talks on the formation of a unity government.

A deal on Wednesday ended the clashes and paved the way for Friday’s talks.

Africa

Displaced Kenyans balk at government push to go home

Kenya has begun a move to resettle the tens of thousands of people who fled ethnic clashes months ago.

Eldoret, Kenya – Row after row of white tents bustle with life. Women wash clothes in foaming buckets, smoke from cooking fires wafts into the air, and children play in the narrow alleys between the shelters.

But it is not supposed to be like this. A week into a government program to return home thousands of Kenyans who fled ethnic clashes that killed more than 1,500 in the wake of Kenya’s disputed Dec. 27 elections, the sprawling camp in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret should be emptying.

Rachel Wanjiru Njuguna speaks for many when she says she has no intention of going home despite the arrival of rains that make life in the camp miserable.

Famine Looms as Wars Rend Horn of Africa

DAGAARI, Somalia – The global food crisis has arrived at Safia Ali’s hut.

She cannot afford rice or wheat or powdered milk anymore.

At the same time, a drought has decimated her family’s herd of goats, turning their sole livelihood into a pile of bleached bones and papery skin.

The result is that Ms. Safia, a 25-year-old mother of five, has not eaten in a week. Her 1-year-old son is starving too, an adorable, listless boy who doesn’t even respond to a pinch.

Latin America

Shakira, other Latin American stars sing for their cause — ALAS

MEXICO CITY — Not so long ago, Latin American artists who spoke up for social causes often risked prison, exile or far worse.

What a difference a generation makes. On Thursday, a phalanx of Spanish-speaking pop artists headed by Colombian superstar Shakira and Spanish-Italian singer Miguel Bosé gathered here to promote a new initiative to aid Latin America’s millions of poor, malnourished and undereducated children. They were joined by the world’s second-richest man, a top U.S. philanthropist and an international mob of reporters drawn by a potent cocktail of celebrity, money and power, laced with an emerging social conscience.

Swathed in showbiz glamour, the philanthropic-promotional project will culminate this afternoon with two free all-star concerts, one in the Zócalo, or massive central plaza, of the Mexican capital, the other in the Costanera Sur, an ecological reserve on the edge of downtown Buenos Aires.

Same Genitals Marriage?

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

On May 15th, the Supreme Court of California struck down all of the laws preventing same-sex marriage. Here’s my thoughts on the creatures attempting to overturn that decision

Cross-posted from GentillyGirl http://gentillygirl.com/2008/0…

On Thursday morning the California State Supreme Court struck down ( http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s… ) current laws concerning same-sex marriage. Now the fuckmooks who are so very opposed to people not like them having equal rights are pledging to fight against the decisions of the Court. They desire a popular vote instead of the rule of law to determine who has what Rights. Fuck them…

Here is the ONLY proper definition of Individual Rights:

“Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).” Ayn Rand

Sounds strange for a Progressive Trans-Lesbian Feminist to quote Rand ‘eh? (She got some things right about Democracy) We all come into this incarnation as individuals. It is only later that many of us are assimulated into the Hive Mind of the Borg (and the Borg comes in many types of groupings). This basically amounts to the killing of our most precious gift in this life: our Being.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times when all of us must work with others for many of the needs of living and culture. As Spock puts it in Star Trek III, “Sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”, but this does not mean ending the basic natures of the participants.

I’m a Gender-variant person, but that didn’t mean that Society couldn’t use my mind and abilities in working for the General Good. I’ve been an engineer, mechanic, teacher, cook and a decent person. I have sat with the dying in hospices and hospitals in order to salve their pains and fears. I have done what any upstanding member of a culture should do, but my right to my own Being is constantly under attack by the “Borg”. We are not beasts of burden or slaves to the prevailing societal mores ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M… ) . All of us have the right to be ourselves, just as Nature gave us, working together without having our lights being extinguished by bigotry and hypocrisy fueled by “mythologies” that cannot relate to Life in the 21st Century.

It doesn’t matter if one is Hetero or Homo or Trans… same goes for brown, black, white or purple folks. You can be short or tall, or have different eye colors… FUCK! this holds true even if one is a box turtle. All of us are who we are, and what we are not, and no power in the ‘Verse can take that away from even a single one of us. These are our birth-rights for being here at this point in time and space.

There is a meaning in each and everyone of our lives, whether it’s from God, the Goddess, the One or Nature. To DENY these things is tyranny and a form of soul death. The “Borg” don’t really get this: they are destroying their own Souls by trying to recreate all folks into their “vision”. As always, we shall be judged by our works.

I’m going to close this out with a portion of the Wiccan Rede (my right-less partner and I have things to attend to for our lives):

“And do what you Will be the challenge, so be it Love that harms none.” Doreen Valiente

My name is Morwen, and I’m a Human Being. Are you?

“Greater than scene…is situation. Greater than situation is implication. Greater than all of these is a single, entire human being, who will never be confined in any frame” Eudora Welty  

Quote for Discussion: Posnanski and Springsteen

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

This quote is just beautiful writing, and a fascinating question I cannot answer about greatness.

I watched Springsteen very closely when he performed “Born to Run” toward the end of the show. I watched the close-ups of his face on the video screen, and I watched the way he moved around the stage, and I listened carefully to the pitch of his voice. My God, how many times has Bruce Springsteen performed this song by now? The album “Born to Run” came out in 1975, almost 33 years ago, and he performed the song even before the album came out. So has he performed it live 5,000 times? I’ll bet it’s been more. Maybe 7,500 times? Maybe 10,000 times?

There are certain professional things we have all done thousands of times. I know truck drivers who have driven more than three million miles. We all do. We know doctors who have delivered thousands of babies, and mechanics who have fixed thousands of cars, and chefs who have grilled thousands of steaks and all that. But Springsteen’s repetitions is a little different, and not just because Springsteen gets paid a lot more money to sing “Born to Run”, and not just because he gets many more perks and shrieking women and whatever. It’s because every single time Bruce Springsteen performs that song, there are thousands and thousands of people in the crowd that want a transcendent moment. That’s his song, but it’s also our song, it has meant something important to countless people. We will know if he means it.


And yet … how can he mean it? How many times can a man sing, “It’s a death trap. It’s a suicide rap,” and mean those words like he did when he was 22 years old? Springsteen is a much different man now. He’s rich. He’s famous. He’s had letdowns. He’s had triumphs. He’s had children. He’s political now. He’s an icon now. He’s a lot of things now that he was not 33 years ago. And yet people still have a hunger for that song and for the feeling we had when we first heard it. Girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors and the boys try to look so hard. We don’t want Bruce Springsteen to grow old for that most cliche of reasons. We want him to sing Born to Run like he wrote it yesterday. We want it to BE yesterday.

I watched him. I listened to him. And I have to tell you – he played the hell out of that song in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the end of a long American tour. I kept looking at him, trying to figure out his motivation. It could be money, I suppose, though he has plenty. It could be the cheers, but honestly, has any man ever heard more cheers? It could be a generosity of spirit; a sense that he still wants to make people feel. Isn’t that at the heart of music? Sports too? Pete Rose used to tell people – like Joe DiMaggio said before him and Michael Jordan said after – that he had to give everything because there was someone in the crowd (some father and son probably ) who were seeing him for the very first time, and he could not stand the thought of leaving them cold. Maybe there is some of that driving Springsteen.

Or maybe there is something else driving him, something that we would not understand. Motivation is a tricky thing. I asked Pete Rose why he played so hard for so long, and he said that came from his father who had told him that the way to win a fight is to hit first. Maybe that makes sense to you. Maybe it doesn’t. I thought about Rose and how much baseball mattered to him as I listened to Springsteen wail those familiar words for the 10,000th time in his life – runaway American dream, stepping out over the line, guide your dreams and visions, strap your hands ‘cross my engines, baby, I’m just a scared and lonely rider, I want to know if love is real. I can’t say he sang it like it was the first time, but he sang it like he meant it, he still hit first, and I just think there’s something inspiring about that.

Joe Posnanski, Roses and Bosses, from his blog

Posnanski is a treasure of a writer.  If you like baseball, you owe it to yourself to read his blog.  If you don’t love baseball, read it for the writing sometime.

Random Japan

I told you not to do that

A man in Gifu who was arrested for theft and traffic violations got himself into deeper trouble after setting fire to a futon at the police station where he was being held.

A 41-year-old Tochigi man was arrested for making some 8,000 “silent phone calls” to his 30-year-old ex-girlfriend after she broke up with him last July.

What’s the kanji for “Wear goggles, you idiot!”?

Ikea Japan has agreed to modify its instruction manuals after a Chiba man suffered a serious eye injury from a cracked screw while assembling a chest of drawers.

It was revealed that the Japan Swimming Federation is in a “crisis” over a new brand of Speedo that it says gives foreign competitors an unfair advantage.

STATS

5

Global rank of Japan among all nations in amount of overseas aid provided in 2007

1972

The last year in which Japan placed as low as fifth

241

Tons of Sekisaba mackerel caught off Saganoseki, Oita Prefecture, in 2001

99

Tons caught in 2006, leading experts to believe that the prized food fish faces extinction due to climate change

83

Tokyoites killed during the past decade after their clothes caught fire, according to a report by the Tokyo Fire Department

Reporting on crime leads to a crime

Showing ones self on TV. just wasn’t enough

More crime seeking punishment

I must be punished

People who cook that shouldn’t

I’ll have some mayonnaise with that vegetable blend

Mommy why do they call it Dope?

Because Ganja is to difficult to pronounce

Naughty schoolgirls serve up ‘espressos’ to go at ‘encounter cafes’

“Encounter cafes,” manga shops where men and women — or more likely, girls, can meet and satisfy their mutual needs are rapidly increasing across Japan, according to AERA (5/19).

The women’s weekly visits a Nagoya “deai kissa,” literally an “encounter café,” where a man was arrested last month for breaking the law banning child pornography for allegedly performing indecent acts on a 16-year-old.

The reporter is there to see how the system works, discovering that membership for men costs a one-time fee of 5,000 yen and another 1,000 yen per visit, for which the entrant receives a membership card that can be in any name they like.

I bet you thought there were no “new” ways to serve esspresso

Funkalicious Friday: Bottom

Primero…go read smackdown goodness!

Proximo: Random tube seventies centric surfology loosely to do with bass lines and blamelessly inspired by Robyn’s mention of Nilsson. Could these be the absolute best bass lines evaahhh???

No.

Surely not.

Not even close, AAMOF, as you are about to prove in the comments! Show me up and dress me down….just don’t call me Shirley! But this first vid is surely the best bass song evah!

graphic images

Friday Night at 8: Heritage

Obligatory YouTube — The Harptones “OOH Wee Baby”:

I was reading NLinStPaul’s essay, Full-Blooded Americans and I read the linked article as well as the comments in the article, most of which agreed that heritage and culture and background were very important.

Reminded me of an old Jewish story from A Treasury of Jewish Folklore edited by Nathan Ausubel:

Usually the orthodox rabbis of Europe boasted distinguished rabbinical geneaologies, but Rabbi Yechiel of Ostrowce was an exception.  He was the son of a simple baker and he inherited some of the forthright qualities of a man of the people.

Once, when a number of rabbis had gathered at some festivity, each began to boast of his eminent rabbinical ancestors.  When Rabbi Yechiel’s turn came, he replied gravely, “In my family, I’m the first eminent ancestor.”

His colleagues were shocked by this piece of impudence, but said nothing.  Immediately after, the rabbis began to expound Torah.  Each one was asked to hold forth on a text culled from the sayings of one of his distinguished rabbinical ancestors.

One after another the rabbis delivered their learned dissertations.  At last it came time for Rabbi Yechiel to say something.  He arose and said, “My masters, my father was a baker.  He taught me that only fresh bread was appetizing and that I must avoid the stale.  This can also apply to learning.”

And with that Rabbi Yechiel sat down.

Last week I wrote about smashing idols.

Full-blooded Americans.  Aristocrats.  The Rich.  The Famous.  I guess here I would add “The Familiar.”

It sometimes happens that as we grow older, everthing seems to change so quickly and it can be very frightening.

So some of us decide to ignore all that and become sort of set in stone.

It is immensely comfortable to surround ourselves with familiar things and familiar thoughts and feelings.

I think that’s a rather formidable idol to smash.  Because although we all know the only thing you can count on in life is change, most of us don’t like change, and many of us fear it.

That’s ok, that’s understandable.

What causes problems, though, is when we make The Familiar our idol and anything that challenges The Familiar becomes something to fight against and destroy.

America is facing great changes.  Some of them are very scary indeed.  And some of the challenges we face are very new in our human history, given the level of technology and knowledge we have attained.

I won’t lie.  I’m not some brave heroine who is not afraid of the future.  I get very scared at times and downright terrified now and then.

But I do believe that if we’re going to solve the problems we now face, it’s far more important that the thinking we support be fresh and sensible than giving a higher value to the pedigree of who is doing the thinking.  It’s been said here and on other blogs many times … it’s the issues, not the personalities.

I am hoping that both in our political system and in our society, fresh voices come forth to be heard.  I’ve found a few in my prowling, but I’m looking for more and more.

Happy Friday to all.  In honor of The Familiar I shall post an another old doo-wop tune I happen to like … the Cookies singing “Don’t Say Nothing Bad (about my baby)” (the Cookies are also known for singing backup for Ray Charles as the Raelettes, if anyone is interested).

LOVE and War

(10 am – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Daniel Zwerdling, of NPR, continues his reporting on the Treatment of our returning Military Troops, you know who they are, maybe, those who those ‘Support The Troops’ magnetic ribbons, now rarely seen, are meant for. Or the significance of those ‘Lapel Flag Pins’ the politicians and some others harp about, the politicians who Praised a Coming Invasion of anothers little Country but didn’t have the the time, nor will, to do their jobs in Oversite, Funding, and simple Investigation!

There’s a formidable group of warriors out there – and they’re fighting America’s military. Spouses of troops who have come back from the war with serious mental health problems have made it their mission to force the military to give the troops the help they need.


In the process, they’ve transformed themselves from “the silent ranks,” as the military traditionally calls wives, into vocal and effective activists.

Why are these wives, and some husbands, Fighting for what is Due, from a Country that Cheered on an Invasion and Occupation of an Innocent Country and People!


Where are the ‘Lapel Flag Pin’ wearers, the ones Hired to Represent?


Military Wives Fight Army to Help Husbands


It’s left to those who understand their Love for their partners who now are battling the demons inside, brought on by the Death and Destruction of War and Occupation. Partners who cannot wage the battles of their memories by themselves, that Love brings on a strenght and focus to do the Fighting Needed, fighting that should have to be done!

You can Listen to Zwerdlings latest outstanding report from NPR’s All Things Considered by clicking on the link which will bring up the NPR Player.

Tammie LeCompte meticulously filed every Army document about Ryan LeCompte in chronological order in binders. Senate aides say these bulging binders helped convince them that Army officials were mistreating her husband.

Tammie, and her husband, two tour Iraq Veteran, are the main subjects of this recent report, but they are the voices of the many who are finding themselves in roles never expected!

Carissa Picard, founder of a national group called Military Spouses for Change, has never met Tammie LeCompte, but she recently launched a Web site {their recent interactive blog} specifically to teach spouses how to pressure the military to give proper care to returning troops with health problems. Picard says Tammie’s own battle reflects how wives across the country have transformed themselves into advocates in order to save their own husbands.

Any military/veterans wives, husbands or family members feel free to visit the Blog Link and sign up to use and view, Carissa and the others would Welcome you.

By the time Ryan LeCompte was transferred to Walter Reed Army Hospital in late 2007, he was hardly walking or talking – or even eating on his own. He spent most of his time slumped, staring at the floor.


Click on the link above to listen to how Ryan, through neglect of the Military, VA, and Country, got to the point of this description of what Zwerdling found when visiting Ryan.


Click on the link above that to visit the NPR page to read more and find the backlinks as well.

By late last year, Tammie seemed on the verge of a breakdown. She says she was borrowing money from relatives and friends. She looked and sounded exhausted, as she juggled raising their children and fighting the Army – and serving as a full-time nurse for Ryan. “I’ve got too many worries,” she said at the time, fighting back tears. “I’m worried about my husband. I’m worried about my kids. And there’s not 10 of me. I’m only one person.”

Friday Philosophy: Addressing the Future

It always takes a few days to turn the switch.

There are still teaching things to attend to over the summer, some of which will be fairly onerous, like building an evaluation instrument for one of our computer literacy classes, a mechanism by which students can test out of the course.  Our students do not come from the burbs, for the most part.  They are what is euphemistically now called “urban.”  Inner-city New Jersey.  They do not generally come complete with computer skills beyond texting and MySpace/Facebook.  Email is a foreign substance, except that you have to have an email address to sign up for things.  I just got half of the gig to build a fair assessment instrument for $1000.

And I maybe need to design a Special Topics class for fall (unless it gets canceled for lack of enrollment) .  The topic is Internet Support Tools.  I may be bugging the shit out of some of you because the topic is blogs, wikis, widgets, RSS feeds, etc.  I suppose I’ll need to learn some stuff myself so I can teach it.  Maybe we can figure out a way for my students to wander around behind the scenes of Docudharma for a bit. 🙂

But that’s the me who is a teacher.  Summer is the time for working on grand ideas…my life’s work, so to speak…for weaving the next layer on the tapestry.  

And for that I have to go…

…through here…  

Sitting inside while outside the swamp they call the Meadowlands attempts once again to reclaim northeastern New Jersey, as it has done for millennia, I ponder the fact that I have no goddamn speakers connected to this machine.  But maybe the words are more important anyway.  Apologies to Harry Nilsson:

Flying high up in the sky

I think I have to find

another point of view

to see me through

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

…over to here.

Another point of view indeed.

Someone has stories to tell and there are words that demand to be written.

At some point in time one may realize that a discussion one is ready, willing and able to participate in is not going to take place until sometime many years in the future…probably after one is dead.  That presents a problem.

How does one address the future?

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

Between here and where you are, life will no doubt change considerably.  I’m told that the things I want to say will be spoken about someday, after all the other wrongs in the world are attended to…or not, which will no doubt cause catastrophic change in human society…or not.  The long view smooths over many of the temporal spasms we must survive in one way or another.

Some day there will be time to speak of gender and the massive effect it has on the lives of us all.  And some day we who peck at its flaws would like to have your ear for awhile.

How many years is it between me and you?  A decade?  A generation?  A century?  More?  Will my words as I write them still be sensible to you?  Can you accept that there are so many ways in which I got to where you are now so many years before you did?

Can you accept the concept of trying to catapult ideas into the future?

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

And the writer in me wonders about how to arrange that sort of writing, assuming I could find the space that is required to inhabit in order to produce that writing.  And wonders what changes finding that space might have on the writer.

One thing is sure.  I am no longer confined to being the writer only between Friday and Sunday, as has been the case since Docudharma  opened last Fall semester, except for a few brief respites.

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

The realist in me wonders how in the hell I think I could package these Letters to the Future so that they might someday be found.

Assuming, of course, that they could be written in the first place.

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

…as the rain still falls and the swamp continues to rise.

In a large sense my commitment last year was to my past.  I wonder if any of my wise friends have anything to say on the subject of writing to the future.

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


River of Time

Note in a Bottle

Words

strung like beads

into thoughts

woven

into frayed patches

a fragile parchment

from your past

A note

in a bottle

set adrift

in the river

of time

If the words

reach you

can you see to it

that they are read

and then sent

once again

on their way

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–May 16, 2008

Four at Four

  1. This is what appeasement looks like. Something… From Voice of America, Bush in Saudi Arabia for Nuclear Deal. “Bush and King Abdullah… will discuss a deal to help the kingdom develop civilian nuclear power for medical and industrial uses as well as generating electricity. The agreement provides access to safe, reliable fuel sources for nuclear reactors and demonstrates what the Bush Administration calls Saudi leadership as a non-proliferation model for the region.”

    For nothing… The Guardian reports Saudis reject Bush’s plea to ease oil prices. “Saudi Arabia today rebuffed George Bush’s appeal to increase production and help cut record oil prices, the White House said. It was the second time this year that the pleas of the US president, who is visiting King Abdullah, have fallen on deaf ears. Bush’s latest request came as the price of crude oil hit a new high of more than $127 (£65) a barrel.”

  2. The Great Lakes Compact is becoming more and more likely. In Cleveland, The Plain Dealer reports the Great Lakes Water Compact nears agreement in Ohio legislature. ” Lawmakers in both Wisconsin and Michigan this week nearly unanimously approved the proposed interstate agreement, which supporters say would guard the region’s water from diversion outside and overuse within its borders. That leaves only Ohio and Pennsylvania as states that have not signed on to the water deal.”

    “The Council of Great Lakes Governments conceived the compact, which also includes a less-formal agreement with the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, in 2005. Six states – Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and Wisconsin – have now approved the plan.” In addition to the states, Congress must also give its approval.

    According to NPR, “The Great Lakes Water Compact… lays out rules for conservation and water use in the region.” Or as the Detroit Free Press explains the “historic regional agreement that would prevent Great Lakes water from being diverted to thirsty parts of the country or globe.”

Four at Four continues with barbarisation and laissez-faire ethnic cleansing.

  1. Here’s one view of the future. James Randerson of The Guardian reports Expert warns climate change will lead to ‘barbarisation’.

    Climate change will lead to a “fortress world” in which the rich lock themselves away in gated communities and the poor must fend for themselves in shattered environments, unless governments act quickly to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to the vice-president of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC).

    Mohan Munasinghe was giving a lecture at Cambridge University in which he presented a dystopic possible future world in which social problems are made much worse by the environmental consequences of rising greenhouse gas emissions. “Climate change is, or could be, the additional factor which will exacerbate the existing problems of poverty, environmental degradation, social polarisation and terrorism and it could lead to a very chaotic situation,” he said.

    The scenario, which he termed “barbarisation” was already beginning to happen, he said. “Fortress world is a situation where the rich live in enclaves, protected, and the poor live outside in unsustainable conditions.

    If you see what is going on in some of the gated communities in some countries you do find that rich people live in those kind of protected environments. If you see the restrictions on international travel you see the beginnings of the fortress world syndrome even in entering and leaving countries,” he said.

    This new feudalism is already going on full-tilt. But, much of the rich seem to have foolishly hunkered down in Dubai rather than in the northern climes. Likely, they’ll be able to move easily though.

  2. Naomi Klein, the author of The Shock Doctrine, writes about the cyclone and earthquake aftermath in Burma and China for The Nation, Regime-Quakes in Burma and China.

    … None of this compares with the rage boiling over in Burma, where cyclone survivors have badly beaten at least one local official, furious at his failure to distribute aid. There have been dozens of reports of the Burmese junta taking credit for supplies sent by foreign countries. It turns out that they have been taking more than credit–in some cases they have been taking the aid … The generals, it seems, are “haunted by an almost pathological fear of a split inside their own ranks…if soldiers are not given priority in aid distribution and are unable to feed themselves, the possibility of mutiny rises.” …

    This relatively small-scale theft of food is fortifying the junta for its much larger heist–the one taking place via the constitutional referendum the generals have insisted on holding, come hell and high water…

    The cyclone, meanwhile, has presented them with one last, vast business opportunity: by blocking aid from reaching the highly fertile Irrawaddy delta, hundreds of thousands of mostly ethnic Karen rice farmers are being sentenced to death. According to Farmaner, “that land can be handed over to the generals’ business cronies” (shades of the beachfront land grabs in Sri Lanka and Thailand after the Asian tsunami). This isn’t incompetence, or even madness. It’s laissez-faire ethnic cleansing.

    I think she has the Myanmar junta in Burma pegged, but I’m not convinced she has the situation in China right. Anyway, I find what she has to write interesting in light of her other writings.

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