Author's posts
Dec 23 2009
Helping the good political guys: Apparently still possible
Found a wonderful article by Norman Soloman. Just when all my beer was salty from tears:
In recent months, the responses from the progressive base to the Obama presidency have often resembled stages of grief — with rotations of denial, bargaining, anger, depression and acceptance.
Mobilization of progressive movements to pressurize Obama in the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill has always been essential. It hasn’t happened. Instead, among Democratic loyalists, reflexive support for the latest line from the administration has made it easier for Obama to move rightward.
In 2010, we should concentrate on generating the kind of public information, vigorous debate and grassroots organizing that could shift the center of political gravity in a progressive direction.
At every turn, progressives should be putting up a fight — not only in all kinds of venues outside the electoral system but also inside the Democratic Party. Winning elections will require doing the methodical and difficult work of running candidates in Democratic primaries, sometimes against entrenched incumbents.
For instance, that’s what stalwart anti-war progressive Marcy Winograd is doing in her challenge to Congresswoman Jane Harman in the Los Angeles area. Across the country, dozens of strong progressives are running for Congress with a real chance to win. They need our volunteer help and our financial support.
Dec 09 2009
“Drying for Freedom” (clothes, that is)
The website asks:
Due to be released in 2010, Drying For Freedom is a film about communities and freedom; with 50 million clotheslines banned in the U.S alone, are we hanging our planet out to dry?
They also state:
Dryers use 10 to 15% of domestic energy in the United States!
Wow — now that’s saying something!
These guys are hilarious, here’s another quote:
We are in hot water… if we don’t use cold!
It is way past time to push people to wash with cold water. Washing with cold water saves almost as much energy as using a clothesline. Join the Cold War!
Their principles are sterling — an answer to questions asked here, I think (what do we do?):
Principles
It is not enough to define a problem and offer no solutions.
Our consumption patterns create the demand for electricity.
The generation of nuclear power is an inefficient energy source producing an abundance of hazardous waste of which we cannot safely dispose.
Raising awareness of existing alternatives to nuclear power and large hydroelectric projects will help people and corporations to make appropriate technological choices.
Nobody should have to live, work, or play near a nuclear facility.
No culture or community should be destroyed by a hydroelectric facility or any other monolithic corporate project.
The sun is the most powerful nuclear reactor and can serve many purposes-none of which should be ignored.
All citizens nation-wide should have the legal right to hang out their laundry.
North Americans, as all people, must lead by example.
Frugality, or thrift, needs to be a universally practiced virtue.
I especially like the last one. I think this use to be a revered principle — true?
Explore the site and find out more, here:
http://www.dryingforfreedom.com/
Nov 27 2009
Greening up Our Lives
[Updated from title being the Thanksgiving comment]
Yesterday, the thing I most wanted to say instead of “Happy Thanksgiving”, was:
“Happy Stealing Things from Indigenous Peoples Day”.
But I didn’t. Maybe that’s wrong or right. I’ll go to a T-Day dinner with friends this Saturday, and I think I’ll be able to use that line and be understood.
So back to my normal passions: Did you do anything to green up the planet today? Or yesterday? Do you have green plans for today?
Nov 24 2009
Laugh and cry at the same time
Or at least, that’s what I did.
Watch this movie from Rosie (O’Donnell’s) blog — with her unerring taste.
Nov 02 2009
Racist “the Atlantic” cover: Sept. 2009
UPDATED. NOW, with new, technicolor FACTS, er, DATA, detailing what in the heck the author is RAVING about.
The sleezeballs at “the Atlantic” magazine have (once again?) printed a cover that’s racist, sexist, and attacks Obama.
Did I miss this? Was there a tempest about this when it came out? I dunno, seemed I was reading more news then, and heard nothing. Maybe it was a day I was busy.
What sells in advertising? Hey, we all know, it’s association. You associate your soft drink with young people partying… and young people drink it. You associate your beer with guys having fun in their all-boy-fun sports bar… and guys drink it. You associate your car with beautiful hot young women looking at a camera as though they’re pining to have sex… and old men buy it. (Maybe some young ones, but hopefully most of them are actually having sex….)
Remember this one? And how the New Yorker was raked through the coals for days over this?
http://tinyurl.com/ykjvu4r
or
http://iamthelostgirl.wordpres…
Check out this despicable thing:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc…
If no one screamed about it at the time, I’m screaming FOUL FOUL FOUL now.
Worse: if no one screamed about it at the time, they got away with it. The association was made in thousands or 10s of thousands of minds… and no one paid a price.
The slimeballs.
Oct 24 2009
Go! Raise page counts and votes: Names of the Dead.com
Alan Grayspan has created a web page to:
a) Show people agree with him an want health care
b) Commemorate the 44,000 each year who die from lack of health care
c) Raise a ruckus (publicize the majority’s desire for change)
d) Get Something Done!!!
Help him out! Just takes a few seconds! You can stay on your chair, no marching, no signs to make — just an opinion to register!!
Oct 18 2009
About those foreclosure snobs, “It couldn’t happen,
oh no, it couldn’t happen to ME,” snobs.
The “It’s all those stupid borrowers fault!” arrogant snobs.
The “I have no problem with them being put on the street if they’re not paying,” snobs.
Here’s a few questions I have for them, red-hot off the griddle of my righteous indignation about the foreclosure fandango:
Dear Mr Snob,
Haven’t you heard interviews with some of these people? Did you listen up when you had the chance?
Oct 16 2009
Working draft, 3D activism vs blogs/computers
I think one reason less 3D activism is… blogs. Computers.
Think about it.
Before, when we were angry, we got together in the same room to talk about it. From there, organizing an action was relatively easy. From there, each person involving a few friends was easy.
If today’s activists had an event planned for every 10-20 hours they spend online, the world would be a different place.
Oct 14 2009
“Earth’s Life Support Systems Failing”
I was so happy Weds. morning. Going about my life. See, I’ve been on a big “clean out the house” binge — boy does that feel good! A “get organized” binge — trust me it was needed after years of not, and BOY does that feel GOOD. A “get rid of it if you don’t need it, watch out I’m dropping bags of stuff I think you need off on your front porch under cover of darkness” binge. OK, I”m actually calling people or emailing them to see if they really want the stuff.
Taken stuff to the Kid’s Consignment Shop. Goodwill. I mean, the computer monitor that was stuffed in the corner 5 YEARS ago to take… somewhere… Well, WA State changed laws, and now you can drop them off at any Goodwill, and there’s one about 12 blocks from my house! That happened 2 years ago, I’m all set, eh? Well the monitor is now in trunk of car, and all I have to do is remember it when I’m near the Goodwill!
OK OK, I got out the right tool and made a note to myself to remember. (Speedy forgetful, or “Quick Smart” people take note: that tool is a business card as small enuf to fit in pocket, make notes on the back throughout the day as to where you need to go, keep in pocket when you go out, consult and follow the directions. No charge.)
I mean, you know? I’m on a fantastic roll here. But from zipping around the house got a bit tired, so sat down, opened computer, to learn and rest at same time. “Hmmmmm, I’ll try CommonDreams, see what they have for news today.”
(Headline below the fold.)
Oct 14 2009
“It Takes a Pillage…” [updated with links]
[New! Improved! Now with actual links to the full article (duh-oh!) ]
So I was reading this article, got pretty upset, and figured y’all should know about it.
Published on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 by The Daily Beast
Paulson’s Revealing Phone Records
While the economy was crashing last year, exclusively analyzed telephone records reveal the ex-Treasury secretary was talking far more to Obama and Geithner than Bush and McCain.by Nomi Prins
Timothy Geithner’s just-released phone records caused quite a stir last week-specifically, the absurdly small Wall Street circle Obama’s Treasury secretary has consulted during one of the most critical economic periods in U.S. history. Yet as Winston Churchill once said, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Understanding the situation we’re now facing requires an examination of how things went down among him, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, and the most influential financial titans on the planet, during the bailout and bank landscape carve-out period.
So, I spent a fair portion of the weekend digging through 415 pages of Paulson’s calendar-which has received almost no scrutiny compared with the Geithner logs-during the seven most critical financial crisis months (March, 2008 and August 2008 through January 2009). August through October 2008 were particularly packed, encompassing 237 pages worth of calls. Categorizing these records by incoming and outgoing, individual and conference, calls per day and month, during that crucial period, I also crosschecked them against Geithner’s calendar.
The information doesn’t come in ready-made easy-to-digest classifications, but combing the logs reveals four interesting facts:…[giant snip]
Continued below.
Sep 25 2009
Crumbling Towers, Crumbling Ideals
Or should I say:
Crumbling Towers, Physics Upside Down?
Or:
Crumbling Towers, Let’s Think After Praying
At any rate, being astonished to find a blog where I could post some of my thoughts about the tidy, near-instantaneous crumbling of the three (3) World Trade Center Towers… I wrote this in a comment the other day. Two people suggested I post as essay, I asked Budhy about it, got an OK. Any help with tags appreciated, but if you would be so kind as to leave the “Thinking” tag, I’d appreciate it. (Apologies, there’s some compare and contrast with DK here, I can’t justify the time to edit it out.)
After you read this, what I want to know is, “What do you think?” And, “Any hidden thoughts you’ve harbored, that you haven’t feltl safe to discuss, due to the prevailing thought-paradigm on this issue?” Again, “What do you think?”
It begins:
I doubt there’s a unified theory about 9/11 among the diverse posters, and it seems odd to me to think there would be.
I’m not the scientist, but I’m intelligent. Here are a few of my thoughts.
–I had previously watched videos of buildings being “pulled” or destroyed by carefully placed charges. A hired demolition, where weeks or months of work placed charges in advance, because the goal was to have the building collapse into its own footprint and *not damage buildings that surrounded it.
They create a simultaneous explosion, that reduces the entire building to small pieces at the exact same moment. People gather around and take videos of those buildings from various angles, to see how successfully the company hired was at placing charges, and if they achieve the near-impossible, making a building collapse in seconds into its own footprint.