Unruly Dharmanians will love this book on the Constitution

Ported by request

An old political friend of mine – whom I describe after the jump – has written a book on the 1780s, the decade that led from victory in the Revolutionary War to the enactment of the Constitution.  It’s called Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution; I think it’s brilliant.  Given that it’s by an old friend, you shouldn’t take my word for it; consider instead that it was up for a National Book Award last month and is now ranked #6111 at Amazon.

I have rarely seen a more perfect book for netroots bloggers, who are among today’s Unruly Americans.  It focuses on the period between victory in the Revolutionary War and ratification of the Constitution.  It argues that what we love about the Constitution – primarily the Bill of Rights – derives not so much from the political philosophy of the great and familiar Framers of the document, but from the common men of the time who refused to bend to them unless their interests were secured.  On reading it, you will recognize the arguments and passions of their day, which echo into ours.

(More below.)

I had hoped to interview Woody for a diary before I left for Asia, but haven’t had time, so I’m posting this review in time for you to order it as a Christmas gift for someone who loves history.  (I get no benefit from this other than bring you and his good work together.)

And, lest I forget, this diary is not affiliated with any candidate or campaign.

1. About the author: a brief personal memoir

In 1994, I headed to Washington D.C. when my former wife had a fellowship at Howard, intent on making myself of use in progressive politics.  It was too late to get involved in most campaigns during what was not yet clearly a terrible year for Democrats.  I somehow met a man named Woody Holton, son and namesake of a former progressive Republican Governor of Virginia, who was running a low-budget ragtag organization in Alexandria, called Clean Up Congress (“CUC”).  I had nothing much to for a few months, so I pitched in to volunteer with them.  The group’s target that fall was a name you’ll recognize: Oliver North.

North had been the central figure in the Iran-Contra Affair in 1986-87, first spearheading most of the criminal activities and screw-ups, and later turning the tide in Reagan’s favor with his brazen, moist-voiced televised testimony before a hapless Congressional committee.  The felony convictions for him and Adm. John Poindexter (more recently of Total Information Awareness infame) were ultimately reversed on technicalities.  North had become a rallying point for the wingnuts of the day, and was now running (and favored) against Sen. Chuck Robb; a third candidate, moderate Republican Marshall Coleman, ran as well.  CUC was non-partisan and intent on opposing North, which meant eventually calling for whichever candidate looked to be the spoiler to withdraw.

I wish you could have seen it.  If you could imagine Atrios and Hunter going after someone with grenades filled with ridicule, you’d have some idea. North was getting an unjustified and preposterous free pass from the press; CUC hounded him at his various appearances, finally eliciting the meltdown that woke the press up (a little) to the dangers of his campaign.  Woody’s idea was to produce a deck of playing cards – my guess is that they were the inspiration for the ones used in Iraq – called “Oliver North’s Pack of Lies.”  Each card recounted a different documented lie from North.  (Woody reminded me recently that I had come up with several of the nastiest zingers for card headlines.  That was a fun afternoon.)  At the end of the race, we shifted gears and called on Coleman, who was polling at about 10%, to withdraw.  I conceived of a fake Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper front page from the day after the election, entitled “Coleman Hands North Victory” (subheads: “‘My God, What Have We Done?’ Ask Many Coleman Voters” and “North Unveils Presidential Bid”) to make the consequences of failing to vote for Robb real to people.  The flyer was the focus of our leafleting in the last days; we also blew it up to poster size and dry-mounted it on foam board to show it on TV.  I’ve had that big board on display wherever I’ve lived ever since.

North, who had been favored, lost that race. As I recall, Robb did better and North worse than expected in the Northern Virginia area where we operated.  I think Woody’s organization had as much to do with Robb’s victory as he did.  People now don’t remember how prominent North was at the time; while this was the year of the Gingrich revolution, the election of North to the Senate would have been the headline of the day: “North leads GOP takeover of Congress.”  The charming scoundrel and fascistic nutjob might well, after more than two terms in the Senate, be the leading contender for the Republican nomination this year.  Woody Holton made the difference that year and it echoes to the present day.

So now you know who wrote this book.

Woody is a now an associate professor of History and the University of Richmond (for the benefit anyone who wants to conduct the interview I didn’t.)  His agent got in touch with me a while back, after I had mentioned online my having worked with Woody, and offered to comp me a copy of the book.  I said I’d be happy to read it, but started without expectations of any kind; just because someone is a good political provocateur doesn’t make them a good writer.  What I found was a book that not only gripped me, but that struck me as being a perfect fit for the ethos and spirit of Daily Kos.

2. Framing the Framers

Back when I was a Political Scientist teaching American Government, the formation of the Constitution was an important part of my course.  To me, one of the most interesting things about it was its illegality under the Articles of Confederation; it might be described as a hijack, a coup, or more charitably a second Revolution.  I described the delegate (“do as your constituents want) and trustee (“do as you think best”) models of representation; Charles Beard’s criticisms of the Founders – predominantly public creditors – as driven to ensure that their bonds would be repaid, as well as some responses to Beard who argue that they acted out of principle rather than self-interest; the Madisonian arguments in Federalist 10 about district size and cooling of popular sentiments; the Anti-Federalists and development of the Bill of Rights; and a few others.  It was good enough for an introductory class and, besides, pretty much exhausted my relevant knowledge of the period.

This book, by contrast, would serve for the upper division class that would come next.  I found it most interesting in how thoroughly it undoes the fetishization of the documents such as The Federalist/, to which lawyers look for guidance about what the Constitution is supposed to mean.  Given my Poli Sci background, I would argue in law school (to puzzled stares) that /The Federalist was simply one side of an argument – the elite party against the populist party – that merited no supreme standing in a document that was ultimately forged by compromise, as most evident in the Bill of Rights.  The argument in response was, often, that this was the best documentation we had of the Framers’ intent.  Holton’s book shows how incomplete that sentiment is – despite the fact that it has so taken hold of our legal system that there is no ready way to dislodge it.  Holton shines a clear light on the actual conflicts of the time, and brings to the surface scores of forgotten voices – rendering the history of the time not only clearly, but in Technicolor.

3. The History of the Time

In brief summary, Holton explains that the predominant political issue of the 1780s was the need to pay for the Revolutionary War.  (This is only one of many stark similarities between that decade and ours – and the decade that will follow ours – that I’ll leave for the next section.)  He clearly explains the differences between an economy based on coined precious metal and one based on paper money.  Gold and silver were in short supply – partly due to Britain’s continued measures against the colonies, partly because wealthy Americans were moving it out of the country for protection – and yet those who had loaned money to the colonies for fighting the war wanted to be repaid in that coin, rather than with paper that tended to depreciate.  (Such currency was prone to hyperinflation, largely because it wasn’t backed by much.)  Similarly, military officers and troops who had been granted pensions wanted to be paid with “real” coin.  Creditors both public and private, meanwhile, wanted to avoid being repaid with potentially worthless paper currency.  So everyone wanted gold and silver – and few had it.

The states had payment demands put on them by both the federal government and state bondholders.  How were they to get this money?  Trade tariffs worked for some states, notably New York, but most states were left to resort to ruinous taxation.  Farmers did not have access to precious metal; they wanted to pay their taxes with produce or paper currency.  Farmers were also beset by tax collectors, who faced the choice of either bringing in the tax money due or surrendering their own property, and debt collectors who used the coercive power of civil courts.  Farmers responded demanding paper money, by turning people out of office when they were rebuffed (which the pro-Constitution party came to see as evidence of an excess of democracy), and by forcibly closing the civil courts.  As they revolted – Shays’ Rebellion being only one of countless small revolts against the political system – states were often pushed to capitulate by not collecting taxes, leaving the federal government in the lurch, or by refusing to fully honor the agreements to bondholders.

While the standard history depicts the genesis of the Constitution as deriving from the inability of the state governments to govern, Holton – who is clearly on the populist side of the 1780s debate – sees that so-called inability as deriving from the impossible situation in which the state governments were placed once the federal government pushed for them to repay war debt.  He disagrees with Beard in arguing that the Founders were not motivated primarily by personal avarice, but by the desire to create an economy that could attract investment (largely from Europe) by ensuring that those to whom debts were owed would be repaid.  They were fighting, as he puts it, for the right to lose a suit in court and be forced to pay debts.  It is populist resistance to the Constitution that requires the addition of the Bill of Rights to secure its enactment.

I’m giving the story of the book short shrift above, and failing to note the many areas in which is sheds new light on the era, because I want to note a few (by no means most) of the points in the book that I found to be real eye-openers.

4. Some eye-openers

A continual thought while reading the book – and I expect that Holton knew that readers would have this reaction, though he doesn’t belabor it – is the strong similarity and sometimes startling between the politics and culture of the 1780s and our own.  I offer just a sampler, in hopes of whetting your appetite for the full meal.

– Poor people of the time were reduced to selling their body parts – then live teeth instead of kidneys

– The fight over whether and how much to curtail legal process available to creditors mirrors the present fights over bankruptcy law and foreclosures.

– Populists did not much resent bond payments to the original holders of bonds, but highly resented – and fought to curtail the rights of – those who purchased the bonds (often at a steep discount) from those who had lend money or toil to the Revolutionary cause.  (Among the bond speculators discussed in detail: Abigail Adams!)

– People were concerned about a “casino economy,” where the easy money to be made from speculation – the “day trading” of the day – soaked up both capital and productive effort that might otherwise go into work.  (Among the critics: John Adams!)

– The “anti-extravagance movement” – now a subculture, perhaps to grow in time – opposed high fashion and conspicuous consumption, both blaming the poor for buying too many fripperies and trying to help the wealthy conserve coin by consuming less, but also brought forth defenses of a woman’s right to adornments.

– The tendency to foist blame for financial hardship on women, and the proto-feminist reactions.

– Media control by well-heeled creditors and “anti-malcontents.”

– Demands by conservatives for a less responsive government.

– Arguments over the role of sense and sensibility (empathy) in determining policy.  (One choice statement: “Few can reason, but all can feel.”  Holton confronts the notion that reason was all on the side of the elites, of course.)

– The supply-side/trickle-down economic theory of Robert Morris, who argued for the concentration of capital saying that money should go to people who could manage it rather than to the indolent.

And so on.

5. Conclusion

Not everyone enjoys reading American history, much less Revolutionary-era American history.  If you’re one of those who do, and you have a little extra to spend this year, you should find this a very satisfying book; ditto for anyone on your gift list.  You may also have the reaction I did, of finding kindred spirits among the writers Holton dredges up from history.  Populism has at least three political meanings: a sort of “nanny-state” anti-libertarianism, nativism, and opposition to economic elites.  Holton shows us the last and best of these forms of populism – one that fits quite well with the ethos of the progressive blogosphere.  Reading this book will leave you feeling closer to those who were involved in the creation of our nation. Having overextended our economy on war spending once again, and facing a credit crunch that may gives us a taste of the 1780s, it may also give you some insight into our present moment, as well as what may be waiting for us in the 2010s.

Celebrate a Birthday memory of my mother with me!

It is my Birthday.

It is the reason my Dad joined the marines…that and the fact he was drafted. And when he returned from the Pacific and got married, his first child was born on December 7….to remind him of things he would never speak about.

So what did I do on my Birthday?

I remembered my parents and missed them. Contemplated on how I look like my mother now that I am the age that she was when I remember her best. I even sound like her.

Well, today we went to a luncheon where the speaker was FDR! An actor dressed and imitated FDR, quoting from his speeches and answering questions from the audience. It was obvious he didn’t like Republicans…too bad.

What got me was the old wheelchair and the braces! He even wore the old-style braces!

My mother contracted polio(infantile paralysis) in the same year FDR did. He was 39, she was 3. Like FDR, she had gone to the beach (at Lake Michigan in Chicago, probably Rainbow Beach,) to swim and cool off in the water. The next day she was sick. It was painful. Her Aunt and her mother were by her bedside day and night. She was totally paralyzed for a time. She even went blind. Then she began to recover. Slowly she regained movement in her arms and hands. Her sight returned. She could even move her legs, a little. One foot could even show some movement in the toes and flex her foot. However, the movement was slight and the other leg was totally immoveable. It was only a movement paralysis, since there was still pain, and hot and cold sensations. She always felt paralysis was an inappropriate term because she still had feeling sensations in her limbs.

The cute little three-year-old, sitting in a chair with a kitten would never run and dance again. When the five-year-old is managing the stairs withher new doll(whose head is ceramic), she falls and drops it and the head breaks. She is still sad after 50 years.

It was strange the way the muscles atrophied on her body. No muscles in the legs, just skin and bone with huge knobby knees. Her back seemed to have some muscles missing. The ripples of thick muscles next to grooves of absent ones was always a mystery. Even her hand displayed the ravages of polio. The thick, fat, muscle of the thumb was totally absent.

My Mom used heavy braces and crutches all her life. The braces made of steel and leather weighed 10 pounds. She used the same braces until one broke from metal fatigue about five years before she died. That means the braces were close to 40 years old. When my parents found a brace-maker, he remarked at how well-made they were. Her new pair were not quite as good.  Of course, these days we have access to much more advanced technology for disabilities like this. Most commonly, a power chair to help people with paralysis or limited movement, get around quickly and easily. She didn’t have this sort of advantage back in the day, and it breaks my heart to picture her hobbling around on crutches for most of her life. It brings a horrible image to mind, but then again it is never nice to know your loved one is or was struggling.

Studies have shown that polio victims experience a relapse around the age of 60. She became very weak and died of congestive heart failure at that age.

My mother was very strong, she used her arms to walk, and used to be able to navigate stairs and ride buses with ease. My parents met at the Art Institute. She was a professional artist working for the WPA for many years. A pattern maker for work uniforms and a commercial free-lance artist in Downtown Chicago.

It was funny to see her walk on all fours down the hall when she did not have her braces on.

Her greatest worry was that her children would contract polio and she made sure we received all the vacinations. She was so glad that a vaccine had been found! Salk and Sabin were her heroes.

****

Although Roosevelt was good…he really didn’t move well with his braces….he had a few of the movements down. The tapping of the side of the knee to straighten the races as he stood up and the swaying from side to side using the back and chest muscles to walk with the heavy braces.

My best memories are of my conversations with my mother and her teaching me how to draw, showing me techniques that I still use today.

My favorite memory is of her holding my first son, her first grandchild.

My memories are the best part of my birthday. They are a way of keeping her close to me.

Friday Night at 8: There’s A New Voice to be Heard

I’m trying to figure out how to write about why I started blogging over at the Great Orange Satan on immigration.

There’s so much information I have packed into my poor brain over the past several months, that I don’t know where to begin.

Guess perhaps I should start at the beginning!

Ok, will do.

kyledeb’s The Correct Term is Migrant on August 22.  

It is impossible to have a real conversation about immigration in the U.S. if people can’t even agree on the terminology that they are debating with. Conservatives automatically become hostile when they read or hear the word “undocumented immigrant”, and progressives often call people that use the term “illegal alien” racists. Both terms are incorrect.

When describing the 12 million people that have illegally immigrated into the U.S. the best term to use is the word “migrant”. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if people opposed this, this shouldn’t be a controversial claim. The rest of the world uses the term migrant to describe people that immigrate into the country illegally. The BBC uses the word migrant. So does Prensa Libre, Guatemala’s main newspaper. The list goes on and on.

Immigration is actually a U.S.-centric term. An immigrant is someone who migrates into your country, an emigrant describes someone who migrates out of your country, but the accurate term to describe this population from a global perspective is migrant. It flies in the face of the U.S. citizen ego, but most migrants come to the U.S. with the intention of returning, and many do. Migration describes their movements better than immigration does.

The typical comment:

You can respectfully disagree

with the actual definitions of words all you want.

But using your special definitions of words instead of the generally agreed upon definitions will achieve only one thing – guaranteeing that you will not effectively communicate with anyone who does not already agree with you.

My very first comment was a response to Mariachi Mama’s comment:

sorry too late to tip or rec nt

To which I added one of my most insightful comments:

ditto. nt.

‘Course, I didn’t know then that kyledeb had his own site, which is now called Citizen Orange and has a great new look thanks to Nezua over at The Unapologetic Mexican.

Frankly, I didn’t even know kyledeb was male!  I thought the screen name meant “her” name was “Deb!”

Later, I learned differently.

I thought Kyle had a hell of a lot of nerve telling Kossacks what to say and how to say it.  I thought he would probably be killed in the comments and that would be that.

Well that didn’t happen, even though to this day there are fierce battles.  I’ve been in the thick of many of them, being the cantankerous self-appointed Nightprowlkitty: SuperKitty of Justice!, lol.

What happened to me is that I got educated.  As a certain SmartyPants (a/k/a Pandora for real!) would say, I got “taken to school.”  And I have missed very few classes since.

If someone could grab the picture at the upper lefthand of the screen at Migra Matters of the very cool graphic “Illegal Is Not A Noun,” I would appreciate it, being tech challenged at posting pictures.

I’ve written before about the diversosphere, but what I have forgotten to mention is that these folks are cutting edge when it comes to taking you to school.  What you’d have to pay thousands of dollars for in academia (and probably still end up clueless), is offered here for free, and in a much hipper style than academia can provide.  Because it’s not just education one gets at these sites, but activism, understanding, breaking through the mind-control so many of us have suffered from for so many years, and top of the minute news on these issues as well.

The other day a poster I have been battling at length with finally used the word “undocumented migrant” instead of his/her preferred “illegals.”

Is that the most important thing, the words we use?  Ah, to me, every detail comprises THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, because they are all pieces of value in a difficult and puzzling battle.  The words we use are the most important thing, because we all care about people and don’t want to call them names that will make them feel they are not equal to us.  The issues are the most important thing because we can’t change the laws and push our Dem Representatives to do the right thing if we don’t know what we want them to do.

The people putting out this information in this way are the most important thing because without them there is no chance to win any battles at all.  Heh.

And the people who are suffering are the most important thing, the children separated from their parents, folks feeling terror in the night, folks exactly like you and me, who are being treated as though their humanity has a lesser value.

I felt pulled in two directions when I started understanding this issue.  My first allegiance, I felt, was to write about New Orleans, and I would feel guilty at not writing more about NOLA when I was busy making comments in immigration diaries.  As yet I have not written a diary on this subject, I still need more education.  But I felt conflicted.

Then I realized both of those issues were about the same thing.  Yeah, social justice.

Duke is the one to read on the issues, the legislation, the ways to frame this conversation that seem so obvious and easy to understand that I forget for a brief merciful moment that what he’s writing hasn’t ALWAYS been part of the Democratic rhetoric.  Oh wait, it isn’t part of the Democratic rhetoric at all.  Ack.

Kyle and Nezua are two of the freshest and exciting voices in the blogosphere on this issue, with both fabulous style and great substance and a lot of heart.  And Kyle posts at Daily Kos, as well as Duke.  This is an amazing ability, I think, given the stubborness of Kossacks that “WE KNOW ALL THERE IS TO BE KNOWN!  YOU ARE A BOUNDER AND A POLTROON, DARING TO DEFY OUR CONVENTIONAL WISDOM!” – or something like that.  And to be honest, there are a hell of a lot of folks who post at Daily Kos that I wouldn’t lightly argue with, as they know their stuff inside out.  So there is a real challenge there, not just an empty-headed one.

So that was the beginning of how I got into blogging (comments only) on the issue of immigration and the Democratic Party’s really lame and limp rhetoric on it.  Rahm Emmanuel!  Yes, you, Rahm!  Your days are numbered, Mr. Emmanuel, and Americans will once again inject some common sense into that part of the Beltway that needs it most!

Call to Action: Show There’s No Money in Union Busting

crossposted from over there, just because.

UPDATE 11:00pm Friday

Moguls Walk From Talks After Issuing An Ultimatum To Writers

(HT DeadlineHollywoodDaily)

Scroll down…

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Day off? What day off?

I stole borrowed that title from United Hollywood, the unofficial blog of the WGA writers. I assume you know that TV and movie writers are on strike against the AMPTP, representing the handful of mega-broadcasting/producing corporations which are colluding negotiating in common despite being competitors. The writers, well, want to be paid for their work. Even if it’s shown on them newfangled intertubes. (That’s why we’ve been deprived of the Daily Show and Colbert Report, and why my spoiler thread has changed from “lookie who’s on the TeeVee” to “Solidarity! Frat — uh, Sorority! Gossip!”)

I usually take leisurely three-day weekends off from blogging, but some dramatic new (unpleasant) rumors and an action targeting the Democratic frontrunners lured me away from my lounging couch  housework. Details & links below the fold.

First, the action. The AMPTP recently hired new PR people with significant political ties. I’ll excerpt from the UH post:

As of last week, the AMPTP retained the powerhouse “crisis management” firm of Fabiani and Lehane (known in political circles as “the Masters of Disaster.” )They also have “a reputation for hardball tactics in damage control and inflicting damage on opponents.”

This firm has built a reputation and a substantial income largely from Democratic, progressive political causes. A short list of their past employers includes Al Gore, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore/Miramax (for Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko), and my personal favorite, the Screen Actors Guild. Founding partner Chris Lehane is currently a consultant for the Californians for Fair Election Reform, a major Democratic group, among other things.

They give more details, working up to:


In other words, Chris Lehane is union busting.

And since Lehane and his firm have made their fortune – and continue to make it – off of Democratic Party connections and progressive causes, I think the hypocrisy here is pretty appalling.

Below is the contact info for the three frontrunners for the Democratic presidential nomination….

Call these 3 candidates, and politely ask them to promise to hold Fabiani & Lehane accountable for what they are doing…

We’re asked to request assurance that Clinton, Obama, and Edwards not reward union-busters Fabiani & Lehane with their business. Address info and sample text is up at UH.


There’s another action campaign that I was late in finding. Consumers4wga are posting selected addresses of companies which support the companies in the AMPTP with their advertising dollars. They’ve got sample letters, etc. Yesterday’s action focused on advertisers sponsoring streaming content online. I’ll try to keep posting new actions in the ‘non-spoiler thread’ as they turn up. Or you could do like I do and add the site to your ‘check every day’ bookmarks… don’tcha love tabs?

(Also, Firedoglake has a nifty ‘send-em’a-letter’ tool, with talking points and all. TDS/TCR aren’t listed on their pulldown list, but hey.)

And now the bad news. Er, rumors.

Nikki Finke at DeadlineHollywoodDaily published this earlier today:

EXCLUSIVE: I wish I had better news about the AMPTP-WGA contract negotiations, but I don’t. To sum up, they suck. I took extra time reporting tonight, and some very surprising developments came to light. For instance, Peter Chernin is privately telling Hollywood that the producers plan to quit the talks any day now. That they have no intention of coming back with another streaming proposal “until we are close”. And that they’ll only give a better electronic sell-through formula “at the last minute” when a contract with the writers is virtually signed.

These quiet remarks by the Fox/News Corp No. 2 are the complete opposite of what the AMPTP is telling the WGA around the bargaining table.

There’s more, of course. Including a later post reporting back-and-forth PR releases:

WGA/AMPTP War Of Words: Who’ll Blink?

WGAW President Patric M. Verrone and WGAE President Michael Winship today issued the following message regarding the AMPTP-WGA negotiations which appear to be breaking down…. The AMPTP immediately followed with a statement of its own (see below). Who’s telling the truth? I think from these dueling statements the answer is clear:

The WGA reports that the AMPTP hasn’t been forthcoming with the ‘new proposals’ they promised:

They told us they would have new proposals for us Thursday. On Thursday, we met at 10am, and they told us their new proposals would be ready shortly. At 5 PM, they told us their proposals still weren’t ready, that they would be working on them late into the night, and that we should come back this morning at 10am. The fact that we saw everyone from the AMPTP leave the building by 6:45pm is not a promising sign, but we will be at the table at 10 AM this morning, ready to receive their new proposal.

and that

highly placed executives have been telling some of our writers that the companies are preparing to abruptly cut off negotiations. They say the companies plan to accuse the WGA of stalling and being unwilling to negotiate, and that the companies will use that as an excuse to walk out.

The AMPTP release says that… the WGA has been stalling.

Well, it may not be that bad. I guess we’ll see.

(and here are a couple other links. Just so I don’t have to keep them around to write about later.)

But let’s end up with some good old-fashioned rabble-rousing:



UPDATE

Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting:

Talks Day #8: Moguls Walk From Talks After Issuing An Ultimatum To Writers

UPDATE: Let me recap what happened tonight, first and foremost. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers around 5 PM today put a list of demands on the bargaining table for the Writers Guild Of America. But the WGA described it as a take-it-or-leave-it “ultimatum.” Then an hour later the reps for the studios and networks quit the negotiations and issued a statement blaming the writers for the breakdown in talks. “Under no circumstances will we knowingly participate in the destruction of this business.” But the writers said their side considers the talks are still ongoing and they aren’t going to stop negotiating. Then the WGA issued its own statement saying “We remain ready and willing to negotiate, no matter how intransigent our bargaining partners are, because the stakes are simply too high.”

In short, things are back to being a big mess.

letter from WGA to membership and other info at United Hollywood.

(If you’re into being obsessive about keeping up — like I’ve become — these are the two essential sites.)

Yay Friday.  

Singing songs of peace for the holidays

(You want to stop war and stuff, you have to sing loud – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Mission:  Find some antiwar versions of holiday carols to sing at December 21 Iraq Moratorium #4 and other peace events around the holidays.

The call for lyrics or song parodies, with some samples for inspiration, went out a few days ago.  

And now Pat Wynne of the Freedom Song Network offers this:

BRING THE TROOPS HOME TODAY

Words By Pat Wynne

(Tune: Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)

Soldiers resting near an open fire

Generals safe in the Green Zone,

Explosions, shots and unfriendly fire

Arms and legs and bodies blown.

Everybody knows

There were no weapons- let’s come clean

Just lies to feed the war machine.

Tiny tots with their homes all aflame

It¹s hard to not affix some blame.

They know no Santa’s on his sleigh

There’s just more death and maiming on the way.

And every mother’s son would like to say,

“Just send me home to my family today.”

And so I’m offering this simple  plea,,

To folks from one to ninety-three,

Peace In Iraq, Stop the war, Let’s all say,

“Bring the troops home today”.

Think you can do better?  Go right ahead and post your lyrics in the comments.  They could soon be heard at a mall near you.

What prompts this is that Iraq Moratorium #4, on the Third Friday, falls on Dec. 21, a mere four days before Christmas, and the day before the shortest day of the year.  It is likely to be dark and cold in much of the country.  And most college campuses, a likely spot for some activity, will already be closed.

That all calls for some creativity to spice things up for Moratorium #4. That’s where the carols come in.

It may be a time to wear Santa hats or suits to the vigil or demonstration.

Maybe it’s a good time to take the Moratorium where the people are — like leafleting busy shopping districts thronged with last-minute buyers.

Malls would be a likely target, but there are legal implications to being on private property, even in their parking lots.  It’s much safer to find a busy shopping area where you can be on a public sidewalk, greeting and leafleting people as they enter or exit. (Although we might finally get some mainstream media coverage if Santa were arrested for leafleting for peace in the mall.)

The folks in San Jose, who come up with something creative every month, are working on a “Holiday Stroll for Peace.”  Their listing on the Moratorium website:

Sponsored by American Muslim Voice, Council of Churches of Santa Clara County, Declaration of Peace – San Mateo County, Global Peace Partners, Gold Star Families Speak Out, Green Party – Santa Clara County, Jewish Voice for Peace – South Bay, Los Altos Voices for Peace, Mountain View Voices for Peace, MoveOn District 14 Council, Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice, Pacifica Peace People, Peace Action of San Mateo County, Peace Umbrella – Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, The Rebuilding Alliance, San Jose Peace Center, South Bay Mobilization, Veterans for Peace, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom – Peninsula Branch

Tentatively: Since local malls won’t allow leafletting (at least without a lot of hassle), we’re having t-shirts made that say “Troops Home Now” on the front and “www.IraqMoratorium.org” and a black ribbon graphic on the back. We’ll all wear the shirts and just stroll around the local malls — probably about 30 – 50 people at each of 3 locations. More as plans develop.

The earlier post on this subject included a report on a mall walk in Indiana.  

Planning something on December 21?  Add it to the list so others can join you, or perhaps be inspired to follow suit.

Friday Philosophy: Journey



One night in the FarAway/LongAgo, I had trouble getting to sleep, so I sat up for several hours thinking about some things and felt like writing a bit about them.  It was a bit of a ramble.

I had not really been sharing much of my writing at the time because I came to a point where I thought that other people in the gender community needed to find themselves more than they needed to listen to what I had to say.  Someone questioned that stance and I thought it through and realized that I had perhaps been too hasty.

The following is a rewrite of that ramble, with some new words hung like ornaments here and there.  It was originally written as an address to my community.  Ultimately, however, circumstances did warrant continuation of that withdrawal.  There are limitations on how thin one can spread oneself and still be able to delve deeply.  Decisions made about which is more important have consequences.

The Journey

Where does a story ultimately begin?

When I first transitioned, I worried a lot about * why * I was a transsexual.  The roots of this question go a long way back, when I used to wonder why I couldn’t just be like other people and find a place where I could fit in.  Fitting in seemed very important at the time.

Being the inquisitive person I am (and not having much of a social life anyway), I did a lot of reading, whatever was available in our library and whatever else I could get my hands on.  When I came out to my relatives, I tried to relay to them the conclusions I had drawn from what I read, but when it came down to it, there weren’t any hard and fast reasons why I was the way I was.

As time passed I realized that it wasn’t really important why.  Knowing why I was the way I was wasn’t going to solve anything.  Nor was it going to change people’s preconceived notions about me.  I would still be me and would have to learn how to cope some way.  My past coping mechanism (ignore it and maybe it will go away) no longer worked (it never really did).  I couldn’t ignore it anymore.  Somehow, everyone would have to find a way to deal with that.

Back in my hippie days, there was a phrase about people “finding themselves.”  Lots of people went on that search.  Here I was at the age of 44 just starting that same journey…the journey in search of myself…the discovery of what was behind those locked doors.

So the question became, “Who?”, not “Why?”  Just who was I anyway?  There was a time when I worried that I would wake up one morning to discover that I had been lying to myself.  People are pretty good at that.  So my journey became an inward one at first, searching my own “soul” for the truth, for the nugget of essence that defined me.  Did I find it?  I really don’t know.  But I discovered that I was happy…happier than ever in my life.  And that had to count for something.

I still carry on that inner search.  That’s what having a therapist is all about, in my opinion.  Kurt‘s job was to show me how.  I hope I have learned his lessons well.

[Personal opinion:  so?called gender therapists sometimes are a disservice to us, unless we are really questioning our gender.  I haven’t done that in years…I knew which gender I was already and didn’t need a therapist to tell me.  We need therapists that can help us find ourselves, to help build us into the people we envision we might have been.]  

With the aid of my therapist, I realized that I didn’t have to keep hiding my inner personality, that I could let it go and let the chips fall where they may.  So my inner search also became an outer one, searching for acceptance from the world around me.  This was a very hard step, because I had always been shy.  So I extended the boundaries of my world, not just going to safe places, but dealing with the world out there as I never had before.  The real world was someplace not connected with academia, where I had always immersed myself.

Eventually we have to become our own therapists in order to progress to that next level.

So I ventured into the communities to which I wished to belong …both the local community, and the local lesbian community, and even here.  It took work, but I found the acceptance I was looking for.  It still requires that work.  I also ventured on trips looking for acceptance in the communities I had left behind with my youth.  There was some rejection, but I did find the acceptance I had not really had before.  And that means something.  It may not always be enough, but one should savor what one finds.

At this point, there was really one thing missing in my life… affection.  My GLBT therapy group worked for a month on relationships one upon a time and I paid close attention.  I had been married for 24 years, and I had just sort of fallen into that relationship, so I was completely naive about relationships in general.  Nor did I want a relationship based solely on sex or physical appearance.  Fortunately, I was open enough at the proper time to find that there was some one who loved me and that I loved her.

Art Link
Sextet

Love Does the Finding

Love departed when I changed

or at least what I thought was love

but it came with conditions

I could no longer fulfill

I despaired of ever finding it again

though I searched for it begged for it

cried long hours and days

at its demise and denial

Eventually one stops looking

I dedicated my life to helping others

while I resigned myself to being alone

It was then that love found me

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 13, 2006

Are all my problems solved?  Of course not!  Life is a neverending story problem (well, I was a math teacher after all).  When you get one portion pretty well fixed up to your satisfaction, you can be sure that something else will rear its head.  But my experience in crossing the barriers that I already have has taught me a lot.  Mostly, I know that nothing is as hard to do as you think it will be.  And I’ve learned to have patience with life…it has a way of healing things if you let it.

We are each of us on a journey.  Even people who are not like us.  Some may see it as a journey to surgery, but it is not.  It started well before we transitioned and it will go well beyond.  The journey is called life.  It is a trail with many branchings and navigating it may be perilous at times.  There are mazes that we can get stuck in so badly that we completely forget about the trail.  We stagnate.  There are great obstacles along the path, and it often seems easier just to take another trail, but the obstacles are there for a reason.  In surmounting them, we learn our survival skills.  The trail is endless, so there is no need to rush along it.  The beauty of the trail is not its destination, but the scenery along the sides of the way.

Art Link
Obstacles

Friends Along the Way


I started out on this

 road all alone

   Fear and Pain

      my only companions

         I wondered if

           I would lose myself

             The road seemed dark

               and fraught with peril

                 Til I found I had

                   Friends along the way

                       As the road wound

                         through hard terrain

                           I sometimes doubted

                             my ability to go on

                               But I fought back

                                 the Fear

                                   and worked through

                                     the Pain

                                       with the help of my

                                         Friends along the way

                                             As time passed by

                                             the road ascended

                                         Obstacles less frequent

                                      but harder to pass

                                   And at times

                                 I needed the

                               places of refuge

                             respite and care

                           offered to me by

                         Friends along the way

                     I’ve come to the crest

                   of the mountain

                 I’ve climbed

               As I look down below

             I see all of the

           barriers crossed

         the challenges I met

       and the lessons I learned

     I will never forget those

   Friends along the way

What lies over

the top of the road

 There is no

   way of knowing

     But deep in my heart

       From the depths

         of my soul

           I know that I’ll have

             The company of my

               Friends from along the way

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–July, 1994

Pony Party: The Dark Side of Love

on saturdays in leiden, the vendors fill the streets with their carts and tents of clothes and food and olibolo (did NOT spell that right) balls for Sinterklaas… middle eastern scarves, heavy wheels of cheese, african carvings, and books. people here love books.

i found this slim volume of poems by John Smith (?) at one of those carts. a book in english and i liked the subject… so i bought it. and, after reading, thought some of the poems might generate discussion, as love tends to do.

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from 1952 and “The Dark Side of Love” . . .

A MINOR EMOTION

First and Last: 1

Man, coming first to woman

and finding her fair

Might, looking in her eyes, discover

How soon he will despair

Of finding that way back again

From her enchanted lair,

Made captive by such simple things

As eyes, as lips, as hair

Estrangement: 2

Turning, I found you gone

Who had been always there.

How can you know that I

Plunged into such despair

Have since that sullen day

Searched for you everywhere?

Since you have never moved

How can I hope to find

That place where you are gone?

I who am grown so blind

How may trace the way

Back to your heart and mind?

____________________________________________

what i liked about these poems, the whole book in fact, was the simplicity of his despair and his glorified memories. it seems honest to me. sad and romantic. and women, for some reason, love to know this power over a man.

the best thing about this collection, for me, is its name… The Dark Side of Love.

so, what’s in your heart… and i know you want to rec the pony party, but DON’t do IT! and remember to be excellent to each other… when love hasn’t got you twisted up and in despair, that is. but sometimes it just feels good to feel bad… what can i say.

Iran NIE and the Hall of Mirrors

(A different take on the NIE – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Crossposted at Invictus

More than one author has described writing about the intelligence world as akin to walking into a hall of mirrors. It’s difficult to know what’s what, who to believe, or even know where you stand. Truths are fungible. Lies are opaque versions of tomorrow’s news.

When the U.S. released its limited version of the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, the revelation that Iran does not have a working nuclear arms program landed with a thud upon the collective heads of the D.C. pundits. Bush’s pugnacious news conference which followed, wherein he repeated ad nauseaum his intention that Iran never get the “knowledge” to construct a nuclear weapon, signalled no real change in direction from the administration that was only weeks before dangling World War III before the glazed eyes of a fearful electorate.

In discussions with colleagues, I was struck by the fact that the authorship of the new NIE was from the same man who wrote the previous NIE, and the same man who assured the administration that there was a nuclear weapons program in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, CIA stalwart, Robert Walpole, who was (if he in fact is still), according to the Washington Post, “chief CIA officer for nuclear programs”. In other words, I smelled a rat.  

But how to make sense of the CIA’s role, the timing of the release, even what the NIE was intending to say? Was it a fusillade unleashed upon Cheney’s minions? Or was it a clever way to install the “fact” that Iran had conducted covert nuclear weapons research, laying the groundwork for further U.S. interventionist policies? Or yet again, was it a plea for diplomacy over war?

I don’t know the answer to these questions. And they may be the wrong questions.

Arthur Silber wrote a magnificent piece the other day on his blog, Once Upon a Time. It’s worth quoting in some detail, as I believe it provides a set of bearings upon which we can steer through some very confused waters. You may not agree with his assessment of the Democratic Party, but his grip on history is firm and accurate.

It deserves emphasis that this latest NIE tells us nothing — let me repeat that, nothing — that was not entirely obvious to a reasonably intelligent layperson who followed mainstream media reports about Iran for the last several years. As just one example, see my post, “Iran: The Growing Threat that Isn’t,” from close to a year ago. It is true that “official” government recognition of the non-threatening status of Iran, but only in this one respect, is of marginal importance, but it is only that: marginal. It simply means that the warmongers — whether of the Republican or Democratic variety (and please let us not forget the Democratic warmongers, who have been far more resolute and consistent in the pursuit of the glories of war over the last century than the Republicans, with the hugely notable exception of the criminal gang in charge of the executive branch at present) — cannot easily avail themselves of this particular bogeyman for the moment. For those who seek to begin the next phase of this neverending war, there are many other bogeymen available for use to the identical end, as we shall see in a moment.

Let us start with the most crucial point. The reaction from all quarters to the NIE relies on several interrelated central assumptions, ones that are regarded as so unquestionably true that no one thinks they need to be stated: that major policy decisions, including decisions of war and peace, are based on intelligence in the first place; that a decision to go to war is one made only after cool and careful rational deliberation; and that nations go to war for the reasons they announce to the world.

ALL OF THIS IS ABSOLUTELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY FALSE.

What Silber is saying strikes me as absolutely true. The history of modern warfare, from the assassination of the Austrian Archduke, bringing on the slaughter of World War I, through the “missed” communications about a Japanese raid on the U.S. (stimulated by a U.S. oil boycott), through the Nazi stunt of dressing soldiers in Polish uniforms to prove an “invasion” of Germany by Poland, through the fake Gulf of Tonkin “attack” the U.S. manufactured, all the way to the WMD in Iraq, governments don’t use their intelligence to start or stop wars, they go to war because they want to, and for reasons that have very little to do with purely military considerations.

More Silber:

To repeat: the decision to go to war is one of policy, and the intelligence — whatever it is alleged to show — is irrelevant. Don’t argue in terms of intelligence at all. If you do, you’ll lose. The administration knows that; many of its opponents still haven’t figured it out, even now.

….may it be duly noted that the leading Democrats are just as “hawkish” and “nuts” on this issue: Hillary Clinton, who speaks of our inalienable “right” to take “offensive military action against Iran” ; Barack Obama (“In today’s globalized world, the security of the American people is inextricably linked to the security of all people,” which is license to intervene anywhere and everywhere, on any pretext whatsoever, real or imagined); and all the other prominent Democrats, with their endless trash talk of keeping “all options on the table.”

Note how Digby {I’ve added the link so readers can judge for themselves — V.} implicitly relies on the erroneous notion that if the intelligence had been correct on Iraq, a reasonable conclusion might have been reached, and thus the invasion of Iraq might have been forestalled. That is the meaning of, “how the CIA supposedly screwed up the Iraq WMD assessment…” If only the CIA had been allowed to tell the “truth” without political interference, there might have been a better chance that all would have been well. But that only makes sense if one assumes that policy decisions are based on intelligence. Again: they are not….

In the most critical sense, I don’t care about this latest assessment, just as I did not care about the earlier ones, about Iran or on any other subject at all — for in addition to the rather important fact that such assessments are invariably wrong, I recognize that policy decisions are made on different grounds altogether. Moreover, in terms of U.S. foreign policy, I don’t care if Iran does get nuclear weapons. As I have noted before, I do not view it as a remotely good thing that any nation has nuclear weapons, including the U.S. — and I remind you once again that it is only the U.S. that has used them, when it did not have any legitimate reason for doing so and when it lied about every aspect of its actions and their consequences. But in terms of an Iran with nuclear weapons five or ten years in the future: “So Iran Gets Nukes. So What?” But the bipartisan commitment to American world hegemony has not altered in the slightest degree. The criminal catastrophe of Iraq is irrelevant to our ruling class, and it has not caused them to alter any of their most crucial goals.

As I said above, this latest NIE makes it considerably more difficult for the administration to use this particular argument to justify a criminal act of aggression against a non-existent threat. But if the administration is determined to attack Iran, they have plenty of other arguments to use, and many of those arguments have the full and enthusiastic support of the Democrats.

But where does this lead us? Down a hall of mirrors of our own making, of hope and fear, of misplaced faith, and an attachment to a political wilderness that promises nothing good. Silber doesn’t say, at least in this article, what is needed.

But in a world led by a militaristic empire who sees it as their destiny to control the power of states internationally, what’s needed is nothing less than an overturn of power, of political and economic relations. I don’t wish for such a cataclysm of world events, but they come in the train of failed empires. The leaders of the U.S., no less than the varied leaderships of Europe, China, Russia and the Third World and of the assorted insurgencies, including all sorts of liberal and conservative nationalists, revanchists, and religious fundamentalists, will unleash a real World War III unless humanity can find a way to rise to the consciousness of the seriousness of the situation. And then act upon it.

“Here” Is Just As Important As “There”

Firecrow & I stopped watching television over a year ago during which we vowed only to turn it on when

Extreme Makeover:Home Edition played on Sunday nights.

We call it our crying show as he & I spend the entire show passing kleenex to each other.  These individuals are doing some wonderful good in the world.  Obviously, ABC would not continue show this unless it was making a pretty substantial profit; we try not to focus on that.  People must be watching and supporting the project.

 Not viewing TV does not mean we live in a bubble, with no world information. We have the internets:the tubes.  And no commercials:the best part.  The obscene nature of blaring commercials is enough to cause my blood pressure to rise.  Even viewing the one show we do watch, we have to mute the commercials when they come on.  It’s all buy, buy, buy–but that’s a diary in itself.

One of his students asked Buddha, “Are you the messiah?”

“No”, answered Buddha.

“Then are you a healer?”

“No”, Buddha replied.

“Then are you a teacher?” the student persisted.

“No, I am not a teacher.”

“Then what are you?” asked the student, exasperated.

“I am awake”, Buddha replied.

The wealth of information coming at us on a given day can be overwhelming and takes some time to weed through with a healthy dose of skepticism.  This can be time-consuming, but we’re not spending mindless hours in front of the propaganda box, so it balances.  

 I don’t need to point out to the readers at Docudharma all the issues that face our world.  We read and research all of them on a daily basis.  Each of us has our passionate buttons for issues which we share very readily here which allows all of us to become more richly informed.  The value of this site, for me, has truly been immeasurable.  I know Firecrow feels the same.

Go Forward With Courage

When you are in doubt, be still, and wait;

when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage.

So long as mists envelop you, be still;

be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists

— as it surely will.

Then act with courage.

Ponca Chief White Eagle (1800’s to 1914)

 Because there are so many issues I feel passionately about:addiction, hunger, war, poverty, racism, the environment;  I have found myself overcome by my lack of ability to just get up and go help “there”, wherever “there” may happen to be.  My resources, or lack thereof, limits my get-up-and-go power.  Working in the addiction field, the holiday season brings tighter strings on the money coming in as my clients would like to try to salvage some holiday cheer that does not come in the form of a bottle.

Firecrow–who is a union sheet-metal foreman of a shop–is the main bread winner of the compound and work has been slow these past several weeks.  With gas prices as they are and these circumstances, we are feeling the crunch.  

It does not change our want to help where help is so desparately needed.  This was our dilemma.

“Whenever you become empowered,

you will be tested.”

~ Caroline Myss ~

Difficulties are opportunities to better things,

they are stepping stones to greater experience.

Perhaps some day you will be thankful

for some temporary failure in a particular direction.

When one door closes,

another always opens,

as a natural law it has to be, to balance.

~ Brian Adams (from ‘How to Succeed’) ~

 Follow me over the fold if you’ve ever felt the need to assist somewhere and could not…

 

When we first saw the images of 911, Firecrow spoke of going to ground-zero to help; but he couldn’t.

 When Katrina happened and we saw the devastation and desparation, we both wanted to go; but we couldn’t.

 When the war protests we’re going on in Washington DC, we talked about spending the money to travel there because it was important; but we couldn’t.

We felt strongly about participating hands-on with these events, but financially, we were unable.

Such events and the feeling of helplessness caused us to become depressed and step away from news stories.  We needed to begin to focus not on the lack of help we were able to give “there”, but the abundance of help we could give “here”.

We started to feel different, not so helpless.

We traveled, instead to Madison, Wisconsin to protest the war.

and… we participated in a Free Hugs Campaign.



Firecrow started talking to the guys on lunchbreak about the information he was getting outside the corporate media circuit and the men were listening, asking questions.

 I focused on my clients, the one-on-one interaction and the group counseling.  I spent two hours one night with a man whose parents had both committed suicide, along with his mother’s two sisters due to alcoholism and bi-polar disorder.  He was suffering from the same ailments and saw his fate before his eyes.  We made a contract and I sent him to someone who can help him with meds.  It’s working.  This man would never talk in group.  Now, although not a chatterbox, is contributing more and more.

I also collected items for Thanksgiving for families of a grade school in Rockford, Illinois, where most of the children fall under the poverty level.  This was the second year I did this and my collections helped us ensure that every family from that school got to make their own Thanksgiving meal at home and not spend it at the rescue mission.

A smile, a kind word–listening, if only for a few moments.  It makes the difference.  I was forgetting that.

So, we did not dig through the rubble of 911, tarp or gut homes for people in NOLA, or stand in front of the White House to protest King George’s atrocities on our country.  We stayed home.

We made connections.  We made a difference…not on a global scale, but a personal, more intimate way.  And we need to continue making this difference.

When I stopped fussing about what I was unable to accomplish, I looked at what I could.

 Firecrow and I are both in awe of the wisdom and beautiful spirit of those at Docudharma and The Big Orange and the great accomplishments of many here; we are learning from all of you.

 We all have gifts.  I think it appropriate we all honor each others gifts and share them in the threads.  What are your passions?  What wonderful things are you doing in your community?  It’s all valid, all important, and all worthy of accolades.

Four at Four

Some news and afternoon open thread.

  1. Get ready for more sternly worded letters! The New York Times reports Angry Democrats call for inquiry in destruction of harsh interrogation tapes by the CIA CYA. “Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts accused the C.I.A. of ‘a cover-up,’ while Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois said it was possible that people at the agency had engaged in obstruction of justice. Both called on Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate. ‘We haven’t seen anything like this since the 18½ -minute gap on the tapes of Richard Nixon,’ Mr. Kennedy said in a speech on the Senate floor”. Good ol’ Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) knew of the tapes back in 2003, but to her knowledge, “the Intelligence Committee was never informed that any videotapes had been destroyed”. My prediction? This will all get swept under the rug to ‘heal’ the nation in January 2009.

  2. The AP reports Senate Republicans filibuster energy bill. “Senators by a 53-42 vote fell short of moving ahead with the legislation passed by the House on Thursday… Senate Republicans have made clear they are strongly opposed to a $21 billion tax package in the House-passed bill, including $13.5 billion in oil industry taxes, as well as a requirement for electric utilities to generate 15 percent of their power by renewable energy such as wind and solar.” Idiots. Of course, the Republicans protect the oil industry! Why won’t Reid actually make these dead-enders actually filibuster around the clock?

  3. The United States has aligned with “developing” nations to thwart any progress in the Bali climate talks. According to the AFP, the US won’t pledge to binding cuts. “A UN conference trying to lay the groundwork for a new climate change pact is unlikely to win any binding pledge by the United States to cut greenhouse gas emissions, its head said Friday. Developing nations are also likely to refuse to commit to mandatory targets on cutting emissions blamed for global warming, said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Climate Change.” I hope America’s idiotic stance changes when Bush leaves.

  4. The Guardian reports Greenpeace calls BP’s oil sands plan an environmental crime. “The Greenpeace warning followed BP’s announcement on Wednesday that it was buying into the tar sands schemes through a deal with Husky Oil, reversing a decision by former chief executive John Browne to stay away from an expensive and environmentally dirty business.”

    “In the tar sands you are looking at the greatest climate crime because not only will these developments produce 100m tonnes of greenhouse gases annually by 2012 but also kill off 147,000 sq km [56,000 sq miles] of forest that is the greatest carbon sink in the world,” said Mike Hudema, a climate campaigner with Greenpeace in Edmonton.

    This truly is eco-terrorism and we’re all too willing to fund it.

One more story below the fold remembering Pearl Harbor.

  1. The Los Angeles Times reminds us that Pearl Harbor lives in hearts of its vets.

    Their ranks thinned by age, Pearl Harbor veterans today are commemorating the 66th anniversary of the Japanese attack and wondering whether Americans will remember one of the most defining moments in history after they die.

    “When we’re gone, we’re gone,” said 87-year-old Jack Ray Hammett. “We’re already just a paragraph in the history books. Will even that disappear when the last one of us dies?”

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a speech to Congress, immortalized the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other military installations on Oahu, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, as a “date which will live in infamy.” Today, those words are remembered mostly by the generation that lived through World War II.

So, what else is going on?

Impeachment: Kucinich Writes to Conyers! w/poll