A few distractions in light.
Think Evolution
November 8, 2008 archive
Nov 08 2008
Mr. Mukasey, Indict Bush And Cheney
Just received this via email from David Swanson.
National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (www.iraqpledge.org)
Contact: Joy First 608 239-4327 [email protected] or Max Obuszewski [email protected]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 7, 2008
CITIZENS WILLING TO RISK ARREST TO BRING INDICTMENT OF BUSH AND CHENEY
WHO: The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) is a nationwide network of individuals and organizations committed to peace and justice, utilizing the nonviolent practices and disciplines of Gandhi and King through nonviolent civil resistance.
WHAT: Gathering at the Department of Justice to request a meeting. In September, members of NCNR sent a letter to Attorney General Mukasey, asking to meet with him to discuss the indictment of Bush and Cheney for war crimes. Attorney General Muaksey has not responded (See the letter below).
WHEN: At noon on November 10, 2008, members of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance will go to the Department of Justice in Washington, DC with a copy of the letter and again ask for a meeting with Attorney General Mukasey to discuss indicting Bush and Cheney for war crimes. If they are refused, some members of the group will be moved by conscience to risk arrest.
WHERE: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC.
WE WILL BE MEETING ON THE CONSTITUTION AVENUE SIDE OF THE BUILDING AT NOON.WHY: Obama has won the election, and now more than ever we need to continue our work calling for peace and justice. We must continue to demand that the new president ends the occupation of Iraq and does not escalate military action in Afghanistan. We also must call for justice and demand that Bush and others in his administration be held accountable for the deaths of over a million innocent people from Iraq, from Afghanistan, and almost 4,200 US soldiers.
Nov 08 2008
The Fair Shake Act of 2010
Our host asked us this morning to come up with something in terms of a vision. A floor! I said. Some base level below which we don't allow people to fall. On reflection, I thought that perhaps we are unlikely (at best) to provide a real social safety net. What we need, I think, is something to restore a sense of fairness in society. A badly missing sense of fairness, the idea of a commonweal, the kind of justice that begins with economics and ends with fair laws for everyone, because people no longer feel they are engaged in a vicious, social darwinist experiment.
This is my half-assed shot. This isn't much more than an off the cuff Quote For Discussion, except I'm quoting myself, so it's not as interesting. It doesn't deserve any recs! But I hope you'll read it, and think about it, a little 🙂
Nov 08 2008
O’Bama O’Pony Party
~♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣~
O’Leary, O’Reilly, O’Hare and O’Hara,
there’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama.
From the old Blarney stone, to the green hills of Tara,
there’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama.
~♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣~
See Barack dance a jig!
As you may already know, this catchy tune was an Internet phenom. It is also responsible for the most visited essay in Docudharma history: I KNEW he was Irish!* by ctrenta.
On the link above you will find an earlier version of the song – it has more than 500,000 views on YouTube. A few days ago the band, Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys, contacted us and requested that we update with the new version (same as the one above) in honor of O’Bama’s victory.
As for our traffic, the graph below shows the number of daily visitors over the last 30 days. I did this screen capture from SiteMeter at 2 PM today (11/07/08). The dotted line shows our average visits for a few months prior (around 700-800/day). On Oct 22nd I started noticing a big increase in the number of visits on our site. The bulk of the traffic is going to ctrenta’s essay. This peaked the day after election day and is still generating thousands of page views. I am astounded.
Nov 08 2008
Europe’s growing wave of resistance to the crisis
Original article, a series of news reports, via Socialist Worker (UK):
Here’s the subtitle:
Across Europe there is a growing rebellion against attempts to make ordinary people pay for the economic crisis. Socialist Worker reports on the protests that have swept Greece, Italy and Germany in the past week
Nov 08 2008
Friday Night at 8: Core
Everybody’s talking about the center and where is the center and who comprises the center and then, of course, if you find yourself not included in this new definition of the center it’s like childhood games of musical chairs that moment everyone else grabbed a seat and you’re standing there, going “huh.”
Last one to the trough is a goober!
And the strange thing is I don’t really even know where the trough is or what’s in it or if I’d even like to partake. But boy do I feel the vibe urging me onward like a madwoman at a sale at Century 21, the Downtown location, yeah, you know what I’m talking about.
Thing is, whenever I get this feeling, that vibe pushing me along when I don’t recall asking for the shove, I get suspicious.
I start thinking, “is this some shiny distraction?”
Center. Bah.
Nov 08 2008
The Obama Effect.
So, I’m in my home town of Chicago visiting family an accompanying my wife Holly on a little mini tour (she’s playing at Martyr’s tomorrow night at 7PM if any of y’all are looking for an evening of rootsy-funky-Milfy-Americana) and I’ve never seen this city more electric and alive.
Smiles and happy faces behind every counter and getting off every bus.
Today, while Holly was rehearsing, my mother, brother and I decided to take the kids to The Museum of Science and Industry, so we drove down to Hyde Park… found a spot for the car… located the ticket desk… and that’s where the “President-Elect Barack Obama effect” REARED its ugly head.
Nov 08 2008
Friday Philosophy: While we are waiting
In four states there were referenda about whether we GLBT people deserved to be treated equally with other humans…and the answer we received is that we did not.
We should be planning a way forward instead of casting the endless supply of recriminations, searching who to blame. But people expect to see blame, so they usually miss the opportunities to look for that path forward.
ENDA, fairness in housing and public accommodations, and hate crimes protection are much more important, if only because they would benefit all GLBT people, not just the ones in relationships. In my two decades of working on these issues, we have not made substantial progress. It’s too easy to write these issues off as GLBT issues and tell us to wait until there is a better time.
And so we wait. And we wait. Just like we waited last year and the year before that and the year before that and every year I can remember since I came out. And even before that.
Maybe while we are waiting, something could be done.
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