when the whole world is upside down and sideways, i sometimes find peace by looking inside. it calms me and it gives me a way to recenter. in these uncertain times, i truly believe it is important to center. music and poetry are as important to me as prose- and it is one important way humans differ in the species chain. one of my favorite musicians is james blunt- who i also believe writes poetry with his lyrics. enjoy.
"Tears And Rain"
How I wish I could surrender my soul;
Shed the clothes that become my skin;
See the liar that burns within my needing.
How I wish I'd chosen darkness from cold.
How I wish I had screamed out loud,
Instead I've found no meaning.
I guess it's time I run far, far away; find comfort in pain,
All pleasure's the same: it just keeps me from trouble.
Hides my true shape, like Dorian Gray.
I've heard what they say, but I'm not here for trouble.
It's more than just words: it's just tears and rain.
How I wish I could walk through the doors of my mind;
Hold memory close at hand,
Help me understand the years.
How I wish I could choose between Heaven and Hell.
How I wish I would save my soul.
I'm so cold from fear.
I guess it's time I run far, far away; find comfort in pain,
All pleasure's the same: it just keeps me from trouble.
Hides my true shape, like Dorian Gray.
I've heard what they say, but I'm not here for trouble.
Far, far away; find comfort in pain.
All pleasure's the same: it just keeps me from trouble.
It's more than just words: it's just tears and rain.
Tears and Rain.
Tears and Rain.
Far, far away; find comfort in pain,
All pleasure's the same: it just keeps me from trouble.
It's more than just words: it's just tears and rain.
Selasa, 30 Juni 2009
Senin, 29 Juni 2009
Public Radio Programming Pushes Commercial Banking in Poor Communities
Last Saturday I heard a disgusting segment of Marketplace Money (produced by American Public Media) on "Vermont's NPR Station": Banking on the previously unbanked, praising the opening of commercial bank branches in the poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
Just the kind of feel-good/do-gooder programming that would appeal to Vermont Public Radio's successful, smug, elite listener and donor base: we know better, so let's help the poor people who don't!
But the copy was was straight from the marketing departments of commercial banks. No matter what their public relations people will tell you, Bank of America and Wells Fargo (featured in the segment) are not caring institutions; they want to make a profit and will do anything to attract customers, even by using deceptive marketing in lower class neighborhoods.
A few telling quotes from the program: "He found that lots of banks simply don't think they can make money in these neighborhoods."
"But I think that often the banks find it very difficult to visualize a whole bunch of low-income consumers as being a vibrant market, but in fact they can be."
"The mayor's office says its goal is to add 10,000 people to the banking system and get them away from predatory lenders, like check-cashing storefronts, payday loan outfits and even liquor stores.."
"Predatory lenders" indeed! More like "Pot calling the kettle black."
There was neither a mention of small town, neighbourhood "community banks" nor of credit unions.
VPR should review its purchase of this kind of programming from American Public Media. But like most NPR affiliates, it won't. Its stations receive 31% of funding from local business underwriting and rely heavily on underwriting from Chittenden Bank. (Vermont's largest full-service bank - now owned by a Connecticut bank - bankrolled the establishment of VPR Classical.) In 2007, then VPR president Mark Vogelsang praised Chittenden in the bank's community newsletter, "With Chittenden’s help, we've created a resource for the community that connects neighbors across the state." To VPR, neighbors = bank customers, wealthy retirees and "summer" contributors. So naturally, this NPR affiliate continues to run programs that look positively on corporate bank scum like Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chittenden.
A recommendation: Peace Tree readers - of any economic class - in Vermont who want to keep their money in the state - away from corporate banks - should join Vermont Bank Users Strike.
Just the kind of feel-good/do-gooder programming that would appeal to Vermont Public Radio's successful, smug, elite listener and donor base: we know better, so let's help the poor people who don't!
But the copy was was straight from the marketing departments of commercial banks. No matter what their public relations people will tell you, Bank of America and Wells Fargo (featured in the segment) are not caring institutions; they want to make a profit and will do anything to attract customers, even by using deceptive marketing in lower class neighborhoods.
A few telling quotes from the program: "He found that lots of banks simply don't think they can make money in these neighborhoods."
"But I think that often the banks find it very difficult to visualize a whole bunch of low-income consumers as being a vibrant market, but in fact they can be."
"The mayor's office says its goal is to add 10,000 people to the banking system and get them away from predatory lenders, like check-cashing storefronts, payday loan outfits and even liquor stores.."
"Predatory lenders" indeed! More like "Pot calling the kettle black."
There was neither a mention of small town, neighbourhood "community banks" nor of credit unions.
VPR should review its purchase of this kind of programming from American Public Media. But like most NPR affiliates, it won't. Its stations receive 31% of funding from local business underwriting and rely heavily on underwriting from Chittenden Bank. (Vermont's largest full-service bank - now owned by a Connecticut bank - bankrolled the establishment of VPR Classical.) In 2007, then VPR president Mark Vogelsang praised Chittenden in the bank's community newsletter, "With Chittenden’s help, we've created a resource for the community that connects neighbors across the state." To VPR, neighbors = bank customers, wealthy retirees and "summer" contributors. So naturally, this NPR affiliate continues to run programs that look positively on corporate bank scum like Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chittenden.
A recommendation: Peace Tree readers - of any economic class - in Vermont who want to keep their money in the state - away from corporate banks - should join Vermont Bank Users Strike.
Sabtu, 27 Juni 2009
Crisis in Honduras This Weekend! [Updated,12:00 PM 6/28/09]
caption: Supporters of deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya confront soldiers in an armored car near the presidential house in Tegucigalpa on Jun, 28, 2009. [Source: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images]
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has denounced what he refers to as an attempted coup against his administration and calls on the people of Honduras to defend the rule of law.
The ruling oligarchy of Honduras is represented by the country's Supreme Court and Congress, and it is defended by the armed forces. These forces are in conflict with the democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya, because he supports major constitutional reforms that would give more voice to the poor majority. A referendum vote to be cast Sunday asks the population if they want to vote on reforms this November. However, oligarch-owned media in Honduras say Zelaya wants to change the constitution to allow his reelection.
This week Zelaya fired the head of the armed forces when the military refused his demand to distribute 15,000 ballot boxes for Sunday's referendum. The Supreme Court ordered Zelaya to reinstate the general even though they do not have the constitutional mandate to do this; Zelaya refused, and the Congress began investigating him for this refusal.
But Zelaya enjoys popular support in the country since raising the minimum wage, eliminating the monopoly on petroleum imports and joining The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, a fair trade and solidarity alliance that includes Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua.
US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley stated they are "concerned" about the breakdown in the dialogue among Honduran politicians over the proposed June 28 poll.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on parties in Honduras on Friday to show restraint in this situation. Ban expressed concerned about the 'political and institutional tensions' in one of Latin America's poorest nation and called for restraint by all concerned in order to prevent further escalation.
The capital Tegucigalpa saw hundreds of troops deployed last week in an attempt to avoid potential disturbances, a move that some feared indicative of a possible military coup. They have since returned to their barracks.
This weekend will mark a critical moment in the country's political future.
-------------------
UPDATE: 12:00 pm, 6/28/09, The military arrested Zelaya this morning. He seeks asylum in Costa Rica. For updated information: A Call for Prayers from Honduras. Military Arrests President. He Seeks Asylum. http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3555070-a-call-for-prayers-from-honduras-military-arrests-president-he-seeks-asylum
SATURDAY SONATA - Tony Rice + Dawn Landes
Tony Rice guitar , Jerry Douglas dobro , Sam Bush mandolin , Mark o'Connor fiddle, Mark Schatz Bass and Béla Fleck on banjo. The highlight of the "Legends of Flatpicking Guitar" DVD.
dawn Landes & the WST Band put a bluegrass spin on the Peter, Bjorn & John song "Young Folks"
Straight Lines song by dawn Landes
featured on the album "dawns music + straight lines" available in the UK OCT 6, 2008 and on itunes Directed by Ben Dickinson.
Kamis, 25 Juni 2009
Michael Jackson (50) Passed Away Today!
Very sad news today. Michael Jackson (50) died. News reports are saying he died of a heart attack. For years he has been very thin and in not the best of health. Stress and the media assaults on him probably had a lot to do with it. Although he had been charged in a couple of court cases, he was always found not guilty. We in America believe in innocence until proven guilty, so for any haters out there who say harsh things about Michael but say they believe in "the rule of law" should remember this.I always loved Michael Jackson and his music. He and his family were so talented. The first song I remember hearing was "ABC" in 1970. My little brother brought it home. I remember when my little brother brought the album home, I kidded him by saying "Oh good. Now you can learn the ABCs at home." My baby bro and I always kidded each other like that, even to this day.
I grew to love the Jackson 5 and all of their music. There was such a rhythm to his music. I grew up loving Motown especially the Temptations, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Four Tops. In the mid-seventies, Michael's music began to evolve. There were so many beautiful songs in his album "Off the Wall." I cried to "She's out of my life", danced to "Don't stop til you get enough" and "Rock with You." The seventies were the times of miniskirts, hot pants, disco boots and Discos. In the discos, we danced and danced to them all.
Then my lovely husband and I married. I had my oldest son a year later. I always say my son saved my life because he brought so much more love and happiness (and maturity) to our family. He was so beautiful. He was a brilliant baby. He learned to walk at 10 months. He was potty trained at 18 months. He was reading Grover's "Monster at the end of this book" at the age of two. And he was rockin' to Michael Jackson's music since he was born. When he was four or five years old, I bought the Thriller cassette tape. He loooooooooooved Michael Jackson. I bought him his own walkman with headphones for the Thriller tape. He was so cute rocking and moving to the music. There were so many great songs on that tape. Besides "Thriller", there was "Beat It" and "Billie Jean".
My husband played softball every summer and my son and I watched his games from the stands. While on the stands, my son wore his earphones and rocked to the tapes. Everyone just loved him. Some of the jocks would say, "What you got there little buddy?" My son proudly beamed, "Michael Jackson's Thriller tape."
When the TV Special "Motown 25" came out, we all sat in front of the TV watching it. When Michael Jackson did the moonwalk for "Billie Jean", we all started screaming in awe. My baby son immediately got up and started imitating the moonwalk. It was beautiful!
Thriller remained my sons favorite album for years.
By the nineties, when my son became a young teenager, he moved on to other music, other interests. I think this happened to a lot of people. My son and my music interests parted at that time. He became interested in Hard Rock and I stuck with the Oldies, Pop and Country. But through those teenage years, every Halloween, I brought out the old Thriller tapes and we danced again to Michael's music.
Those times will always, always hold a special place in my heart.
Michael Leviton "Summer's the Worst"
I'm not sure I am thrilled by the song or the music, but the story, though kind of cheesy, is worth a look see. I recommend listening/watching to the end...
Rabu, 24 Juni 2009
Conversations With History... a talk with Roya Hakakian
Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Roya Hakakian whose book "Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran," chronicles her intellectual odyssey from teenage rebel to Iranian-American writer. In the conversation, Roya Hakakian reflects on the craft of writing, the importance of poetry in Iranian culture, the betrayal of the revolution by the Ayatollahs and the impact of the revolution on the Jewish community in Iran. She also compares the struggle within both
Islam and Judaism as young people reconcile modernity with religious identity.
Double Standards: Two Quotes (Updated)
Quote:
President Obama said (via NPR's ATC program): "I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering in Iran's affairs. But we also must bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. We deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place. [...]
[On Neda Agha Soltani and the video showing her killing:] "It's heartbreaking. It's — it's heartbreaking. And I think that anybody who sees it knows that there's something fundamentally unjust about that."
And if the victims of violence had been Palestinians?
Quote:
NPR's Morning Edition: Airstrikes believed to be carried out by U.S. predator drones have killed at least 45 militants in Pakistan and injured scores more. The reported death toll would make the attack the deadliest since the U.S. deployed its remotely guided missiles to target the Taliban leadership dug into Pakistan's mountainous border with Afghanistan.
Details of the assault on the remote tribal area of South Waziristan known as Pakistan's badlands are still emerging. Local media report that dozens of militants were killed when three drone missiles were fired on Taliban fighters as they gathered for a funeral for fellow militants. Those fighters had been killed earlier in a separate drone attack. [...]
The United States would like the area as flushed of Taliban as possible in advance of a new deployment of American troops just over the border in Afghanistan later this year.
Would the NPR report have been less sanguine if those killed had been American, British, Dutch or Israelis?
Cross post at Antimedius and The Peace Tree.
UPDATE: Excellent post on NPRCheck - highly recommended - about NPR's biased and incomplete reporting on the attack in Afghanistan.
AJE has a completely different headline - 'US drone' hits Pakistan funeral and and story on the drone attack; no where is the word militant used. Unlike the NPR story, it has this:
'Pakistan officially objects to strikes on its territory by the pilotless US aircraft.
'Questioned about the reported attacks, a US defence department official said: "There are no US military strike operations being conducted in Pakistan."'
Maybe I am wrong, but frequently NPR just cuts and pastes the DoD press release, without question.
President Obama said (via NPR's ATC program): "I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering in Iran's affairs. But we also must bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. We deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place. [...]
[On Neda Agha Soltani and the video showing her killing:] "It's heartbreaking. It's — it's heartbreaking. And I think that anybody who sees it knows that there's something fundamentally unjust about that."
And if the victims of violence had been Palestinians?
Quote:
NPR's Morning Edition: Airstrikes believed to be carried out by U.S. predator drones have killed at least 45 militants in Pakistan and injured scores more. The reported death toll would make the attack the deadliest since the U.S. deployed its remotely guided missiles to target the Taliban leadership dug into Pakistan's mountainous border with Afghanistan.
Details of the assault on the remote tribal area of South Waziristan known as Pakistan's badlands are still emerging. Local media report that dozens of militants were killed when three drone missiles were fired on Taliban fighters as they gathered for a funeral for fellow militants. Those fighters had been killed earlier in a separate drone attack. [...]
The United States would like the area as flushed of Taliban as possible in advance of a new deployment of American troops just over the border in Afghanistan later this year.
Would the NPR report have been less sanguine if those killed had been American, British, Dutch or Israelis?
Cross post at Antimedius and The Peace Tree.
UPDATE: Excellent post on NPRCheck - highly recommended - about NPR's biased and incomplete reporting on the attack in Afghanistan.
AJE has a completely different headline - 'US drone' hits Pakistan funeral and and story on the drone attack; no where is the word militant used. Unlike the NPR story, it has this:
'Pakistan officially objects to strikes on its territory by the pilotless US aircraft.
'Questioned about the reported attacks, a US defence department official said: "There are no US military strike operations being conducted in Pakistan."'
Maybe I am wrong, but frequently NPR just cuts and pastes the DoD press release, without question.
Selasa, 23 Juni 2009
Video games of the future!
American Revolution II: Campaign 2010
* [+/-]
Call of Duty: The 2nd Revolution
* [+/-]
(Call of Duty)
Need for Peace: Most Wanted
* [+/-]
(Need for Speed: Most Wanted)
Shadow of the Constitution
* [+/-]
(Shadow of the Colossus)
Resident Upheaval
* [+/-]
(Resident Evil)
Imprints of Persia: The Overthrown
* [+/-]
(Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones)
Full-Life
* [+/-]
(Half-Life)
Documented: Legal Origins
* [+/-]
(Condemned: Criminal Origins)
Neoconbusters: The Video Game
* [+/-]
(Ghostbusters: The Video Game)
Finally Democracy: The Tolerant Years
* [+/-]
(Final Fantasy IV: The After Years)
Transformation: Revival of the Citizen
* [+/-]
(Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
Yes Wii Did
* [+/-]
(Wii Fit)
© 2009 mrp/thepoetryman
democracy is earned
a friend of mine sent me this cartoon- and i had to share. in the interest of full disclosure, i have not been following the news closely about anything lately. i generally skim the headlines and read what interests me. but i have kept up with the headlines on iran. i do not know the culture intimately- what i have learned comes from a couple of blog buddies of iranian descent and national geographic. what i do know is, the persian people are strong and resilient. they have resisted losing their sense of self and their cultural identity- they are proud to be persian.i don't know that the same can be said for americans. we lost any cultural identity we had to strip malls and fast food joints a long time ago. we turned into self centered, perpetual scared, sheeple with a 'lord/lady of the manor' attitude- we delegate and pay for people to do things for us. well, this is just proof positive that you can't outsource or pay for democracy. we would do well to follow the iranian model- and apologize for calling them part of the 'axis of evil'- if we would have been smart 60 years ago- we would have left their democracy intact. i don't think that they have ever quite gotten over the fact that we meddled in their government then- and i really have a feeling folks should understand that it was us who mucked things up in the middle east. not the middle eastern folks.
"
Playing For Change: Peace Through Music
http://playingforchange.com - is a film that explores our connections in a world overwhelmed with division. Through the process of making this film we traveled around the world and discovered that music opens the door to a place where we can come together as a human race. Music helps us to persevere through struggles and celebrate our differences which changes the world into a more peaceful place. Look for the DVD of this award-winning film in stores in late 2009.
"Stand By Me" Peace Through Music-
Weapon X- Time for a Change
My message to my Iranian people in the struggle. You are not alone. www.myspace.com/wxmc www.facebook.com/fsalimi
Minggu, 21 Juni 2009
Hootie and the blowfish - State your peace
Studioversion of "State Your Peace"
With lyrics in the video.
...state your peace; before it's too late.
With lyrics in the video.
...state your peace; before it's too late.
Living On $2 A Day: An Interview With Economist Jonathan Morduch
The topic below was originally posted on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.According to the World Bank, almost forty percent of humanity lives on a daily income of less than two dollars per day. Another 1.1 billion scrape by on less than one dollar per day.
How can anyone possibly survive or raise a family with such a meager income? In New York City, two dollars per day won’t even cover my daily Brooklyn/Manhattan round-trip subway commute. Yet billions of low skilled people put food on the table, educate their children, grapple with unexpected emergencies and even save money.
In Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live On $2 a Day, Darryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford and Orlanda Ruthven, compiled yearlong “financial diaries,” of villagers and slum dwellers in Bangladesh, India and South Africa. The diaries track penny by penny, how specific households manage their money with sophistication and resourcefulness. Recently published by Princeton University Press, Portfolios of the Poor, presents revealing data in an accessible seven chapters and 184 pages of text. The text is supported with an additional eighty plus pages of appendices, data tables and notes illustrating “the story behind the portfolios.”
In a tour de force of primary research, the authors report that the world’s poorest do not live hand to mouth and desperately spend what they earn just to keep from drowning. Instead, they utilize financial tools, rely on “informal” networks through relatives and neighbors and navigate perils such as medical calamities and political strife. Their stories are both inspiring as well as heartbreaking.
Although the world’s poorest are far more adept at financial management then previously understood, they’re confronted with what the authors describe as the “triple whammy”:
- Low income
- Irregularity of income.
- Unpredictability about when they will earn income.
The authors argue in their book that microfinancing should also be extended to address the needs of exceptionally low-income wage earners as well. It is their contention that poor people in the countries they researched demonstrate on a daily basis that they are responsible money managers and would also be reliable clients of microfinancing services.
One of the authors, Jonathan Morduch, is a New York University ("NYU") professor of economics as well as a managing director of the Financial Access Initiative - a consortium of researchers at NYU, Harvard, Yale, and Innovations for Poverty Action. Morduch, agreed to a telephone podcast interview with me about the book and our conversation was just under twenty-six minutes.
Among the topics covered was how his team earned the confidence of the people they interviewed, the informal market tools utilized by the world’s poorest in Bangladesh, India and South Africa and why he’s a proponent of extending microfinancing to the world’s poorest wage earners.
Please refer to the flash media player below.
This interview can also be accessed at no cost via the Itunes Store by searching for either the “Intrepid Liberal Journal” or “Robert Ellman.
Father's Day and Time
It is a wise father that knows his child.
__William Shakespeare
__William Shakespeare
All the clocks that surround us mark off moments as they dissolve;
Steady drum of the second hand tick tocks like a time bomb,
Vanished down beneath the rising rush
Cast outside of reach of all that’s here
Or that frantic hands can seize or bear.
Like time, we will travel forward as moments become lean and swift,
Instances slipped within pale snapshots; smiles of odd, uneasy faces.
Tick tock goes the gesture, the nod.
Plunging seconds speed by exhausted
Below the pitch-black lather of time.
As summers own swimming and winter’s trudging speed through
Second hands rush on, prying the next season to scuttle forth.
Does it matter more what time it was
Or more that a moment’s remembered;
Vanished, frantic, outside of my reach?
All of the clocks shrug at this; my yearning to paint my father true,
To prevent time’s rolling course upon scatty legs made of seconds.
Cease your lean and speedy march.
If I’m to know him, you've got to stop,
Time, before you run out of clock.
© 2009 mrp/thepoetryman
Sabtu, 20 Juni 2009
46 Mexican Children Perish in Day Care Fire! Will Mexico's Plagues Ever End?
Governmental corruption preceded economic collapse. The migration problem was compounded by the drug cartel wars. The swine flu epidemic...now Mexico reels from its latest "golpe" [blow]: fire at a government-run day care center claimed the life of its 46th child last weekend.
Anger boiled over in the northwestern city of Hermosillo where the populace blames the government for failing to enforce safety regulations, for failing to properly investigate the blaze and for failing to hold anyone criminally responsible in the 10 days that have passed since the fire.
As time passes the national grief is turning to outrage in the embattled country. During a rally that was televised nationwide on CNN affiliate TV Azteca Saturday in front of the Sonora governor's office, parent Poberto Zavala declared to great cheers:
"If there is no justice from the authorities, there will be vengeance from the people."
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has promised there will be a complete investigation. Officials blame an air-conditioning unit in a government-run warehouse in the same building as the day care center for causing the fire.
Commentators denounce the fact that 46 children can die due to negligence while it appears that: 1) no one will be punished, and 2) that the safety of other day care centers is not being reviewed to ascertain that this will not happen again somewhere else in the country.
Suffering seems to be making a home in Mexico. When the plagues recur over and over, the question arises: how much can and will a people accept?
We offer our prayer for peace.
Kamis, 18 Juni 2009
Support a Cautious Response to the Iranian Election
I am turning the lights out now
A heavy summer heat hovers over the ground.
Before the morning sun lifts this crimson boil
Many will have marched in solidarity on far off streets
While others watch with bewilderment, a mini shock and awe.
~
Support a Cautious Response to the Iranian Election
President Obama has faced pressure from some members of Congress and voices in the media to take sides in the internal dispute in Iran over their recent presidential election. While the events that have transpired in the wake of the election are disturbing, an aggressive response by the United States could make the situation for Iranians – and the future of U.S.-Iran relations – even worse.
So far, President Obama has responded cautiously, neither endorsing the election result nor the opposition claims of fraud, and re-affirming his intent to engage Iran diplomatically, regardless of the election result. Would you thank President Obama for his cautious response and urge him to continue his efforts to engage Iran diplomatically?
Thank you, President Obama, for your display of caution in addressing the situation in Iran following the disputed Presidential election. We agree that the U.S. must avoid the appearance of meddling in Iran’s internal affairs and we urge you to continue your efforts to engage Iran diplomatically, as you have pledged to do.
Selasa, 16 Juni 2009
On June 17th...
1992 Slaughtering by Inkhata-followers at Boipatong, South Africa, kills 42
1991 South Africa abolishes last of its apartheid laws
1981 Battle between Moslems and Christians in Cairo, 14 killed
1982 President Reagan 1st United Nations General Assembly address, "evil empire" speech
1973 Russian party leader Brezhnev visits U.S.
1972 5 arrested for burglarizing Democratic Party HQ at Watergate
1967 1st Chinese hydrogen bomb explodes
1965 1st bombing by B-52 (50 km north of Saigon)
1963 Supreme Court rules against Bible reading/prayer in public schools
1958 Radio Moscow reports execution of Hungarian ex-premier Imre Nagy
1954 CIA exile army lands in Guatemala, JF Dulles and United Fruit Co
1954 Televised Senate Army McCarthy hearings ends
1950 Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria sign security pact
1944 French troops under Lattre de Tssigny conquer Elba
1944 Hitler secretly meets with von Rundstedt in Marjival Soissons
1942 1st WW II American expeditionary force lands in Africa (Gold Coast)
1940 France asks Germany for terms of surrender in WW II
1938 Japan declares war on China
1916 U.S. troops under General Pershing march into Mexico
1915 League to Enforce Peace forms in Philadelphia
1885 Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City
1863 Naval Engagement at Warsaw Sound GA-USS Weehawken vs CSS Atlanta
1856 Republican Party opens its 1st national convention in Philadelphia
1855 Heavy French/British bombing of Sebastopol, 2000+ killed
1579 Sir Francis Drake lands on coast of California
A New Policy
To paraphrase Michael Ledeen, a former advisor to Karl Rove, every sixty or seventy years, the American public has to grab big business by the collar, slam it against a wall and teach it some manners.
Someone should tell the Democrats you can't do that while you're kissing their ass.
a matter of life and death
"
my sister-in-law number two (my husband has 2 sisters) has gone into labor and by the time anyone reads this- will most likely have had her daughter. my mom's health continues to weaken as her heart and lungs fight against time to keep her blood flowing and her life going. and the world continues to take life for granted. i am not sure what it is about humans that make them so, well, fickle. on the one hand, we have folks who fight tooth and nail for a fetus' right to live and turn around and fight just as vigilantly to declare war on another cultures' fetuses. strange. we don't have a choice when we are born. our parents got together and for better or worse- had us. should we have the right to die?
much debate has swirled around abortion and whether or not it should be legal- but what about an adult's right to die? who gets to make that choice? some believe it's up to a mythical being called 'god' and others worry about ethical and legal issues. but if you strip those considerations aside and think simply for yourself- would you want to be able to die when you chose? our culture doesn't like to think about dying much. perhaps because we are so very far removed from it. at one time, folks were up close and personal with their loved ones' deaths. they washed the bodies, made the coffins and sat wakes. then, they dug the hole and buried them. now, there are a whole host of folks who whisk the body away and do all of those things very clinically and loved ones get a shot at seeing a strange corpse to 'say goodbye' before cremation or burial. it's like we want to forget they are dead.
i can only speak to what i know and see and believe- i know that my mom says she has made peace with dying. i know that she would rather be healthy and stick around. i would rather she be healthy and stick around too but death is inevitable. none of us escape it. i would also rather that my mom not suffer needlessly. and if she chose to go, i would rather she be allowed to do so. assisted dying is a sticky widget. i have a feeling as our population ages- it may push a bit to the forefront. folks are living longer true- but we also have seen quality of life deteriorate for some and it really doesn't look like the health care system will be fixed in this country any time soon. not in a viable way. millions of folks won't wait to be told that they are allowed to end it. they just will. it would be nice to help them on a journey with dignity.
as for me, i would absolutely rather choose to die if i became ill with a terminal illness. the end result would be the same (assuming that we had exhausted the known medical treatments) and i would not want to suffer nor put my loved ones through prolonged suffering. i would rather folks celebrated my life and not dwell on my death. i think all of us would rather live. it's that human nature and survival instinct- but we also have it within our power to end life. and i think we are going to have to face that next obstacle.
"
my sister-in-law number two (my husband has 2 sisters) has gone into labor and by the time anyone reads this- will most likely have had her daughter. my mom's health continues to weaken as her heart and lungs fight against time to keep her blood flowing and her life going. and the world continues to take life for granted. i am not sure what it is about humans that make them so, well, fickle. on the one hand, we have folks who fight tooth and nail for a fetus' right to live and turn around and fight just as vigilantly to declare war on another cultures' fetuses. strange. we don't have a choice when we are born. our parents got together and for better or worse- had us. should we have the right to die?
much debate has swirled around abortion and whether or not it should be legal- but what about an adult's right to die? who gets to make that choice? some believe it's up to a mythical being called 'god' and others worry about ethical and legal issues. but if you strip those considerations aside and think simply for yourself- would you want to be able to die when you chose? our culture doesn't like to think about dying much. perhaps because we are so very far removed from it. at one time, folks were up close and personal with their loved ones' deaths. they washed the bodies, made the coffins and sat wakes. then, they dug the hole and buried them. now, there are a whole host of folks who whisk the body away and do all of those things very clinically and loved ones get a shot at seeing a strange corpse to 'say goodbye' before cremation or burial. it's like we want to forget they are dead.
i can only speak to what i know and see and believe- i know that my mom says she has made peace with dying. i know that she would rather be healthy and stick around. i would rather she be healthy and stick around too but death is inevitable. none of us escape it. i would also rather that my mom not suffer needlessly. and if she chose to go, i would rather she be allowed to do so. assisted dying is a sticky widget. i have a feeling as our population ages- it may push a bit to the forefront. folks are living longer true- but we also have seen quality of life deteriorate for some and it really doesn't look like the health care system will be fixed in this country any time soon. not in a viable way. millions of folks won't wait to be told that they are allowed to end it. they just will. it would be nice to help them on a journey with dignity.
as for me, i would absolutely rather choose to die if i became ill with a terminal illness. the end result would be the same (assuming that we had exhausted the known medical treatments) and i would not want to suffer nor put my loved ones through prolonged suffering. i would rather folks celebrated my life and not dwell on my death. i think all of us would rather live. it's that human nature and survival instinct- but we also have it within our power to end life. and i think we are going to have to face that next obstacle.
"
Senin, 15 Juni 2009
Snark and bite..."again and again" from Short Shots
Stupidity comes in many forms. There is the stupidity that arises from plain ignorance, or the stupidity that arises from inadequate information, or the stupidity that arises from misinterpreting the information at hand.
However, the deadliest stupidity, the one that has spread death and carnage across the face of the earth, is the stupidity grounded in sheer momentum. If an individual does the same thing over and over and expects different results, it’s called insanity. If an organization does the same, it’s called policy. (Please visit Case to continue reading...)
Minggu, 14 Juni 2009
On Crime and Punishment - Kahlil Gibran
It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind,
That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto others and therefore unto yourself.
And for that wrong committed must you knock and wait a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed.
Like the ocean is your god-self;
It remains for ever undefiled.
And like the ether it lifts but the winged. Even like the sun is your god-self;
It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent.
But your god-self dwells not alone in your being.
Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man,
But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist searching for its own awakening.
And of the man in you would I now speak.
For it is he and not your god-self nor the pigmy in the mist, that knows crime and the punishment of crime.
Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.
But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,
So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.
And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,
So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.
Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self.
You are the way and the wayfarers.
And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.
Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone.
And this also, though the word lie heavy upon your hearts:
The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,
And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed.
The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked,
And the white-handed is not clean in the doings of the felon.
Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured,
And still more often the condemned is the burden bearer for the guiltless and unblamed.
You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked;
For they stand together before the face of the sun even as the black thread and the white are woven together.
And when the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.
If any of you would bring to judgment the unfaithful wife,
Let him also weigh the heart of her husband in scales, and measure his soul with measurements.
And let him who would lash the offender look unto the spirit of the offended.
And if any of you would punish in the name of righteousness and lay the ax unto the evil tree, let him see to its roots;
And verily he will find the roots of the good and the bad, the fruitful and the fruitless, all entwined together in the silent heart of the earth.
And you judges who would be just,
What judgment pronounce you upon him who though honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit?
What penalty lay you upon him who slays in the flesh yet is himself slain in the spirit?
And how prosecute you him who in action is a deceiver and an oppressor,
Yet who also is aggrieved and outraged?
And how shall you punish those whose remorse is already greater than their misdeeds?
Is not remorse the justice which is administered by that very law which you would fain serve?
Yet you cannot lay remorse upon the innocent nor lift it from the heart of the guilty.
Unbidden shall it call in the night, that men may wake and gaze upon themselves.
And you who would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light?
Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen are but one man standing in twilight between the night of his pigmy-self and the day of his god-self,
And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation.
__Khalil Gibran (born Gibrān Khalīl Gibrān bin Mikhā'īl bin Sa'ad; Arabic جبران خليل جبران بن ميکائيل بن سعد), (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer. Born in the town of Bsharri in modern-day Lebanon (then part of Ottoman Syria), as a young man he emigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career. He is chiefly known for his 1923 book The Prophet, a series of philosophical essays written in English prose. An early example of Inspirational fiction, the book sold well despite a cool critical reception, and became extremely popular in 1960s counterculture.
Kahlil Gibran's Works
Sabtu, 13 Juni 2009
Happy 80th Birthday, Anne Frank! We need you more than ever.
"With a diary kept in a secret attic, she braved the Nazis and lent a searing voice to the fight for human dignity." --Time (1999), naming Anne Frank with the heroes and icons of the 20th century on their list of The Most Important People of the Century.
Anne Frank was born just 80 years ago in Frankfurt, Germany on June 12, 1929. A Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis with her family, Anne kept her sanity before her capture and subsequent death in a concentration camp by recording her thoughts in a diary. That diary, given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from June 12, 1942 until August 1, 1944. It became a classic when it was published after her death: The Diary of a Young Girl, one of the most widely read books in the world.
As we reel this week from the fatal shootings and deaths in Washington DC's Holocaust Museum, initiated by a man with a virulently anti-Semitic past...
when we view photographic evidence of unspeakable acts of torture inflicted by our military in prisons far and not-so-far away...
when indigenous defenders of the Amazon jungle are gunned down like criminals...
elections are so suspect that the citizenry must riot in the streets...
a Minuteman leader is apprehended for a double homicide in AZ...
...we ponder with broken hearts our own human capacity for evil and struggle to find the hope we need to remain faithful to working for justice and peace.
These quotations, taken from Anne's diary, are worth recalling today as a celebration of her life, her voice, her courage, her open heart. In Anne we find the antidote to despair that we sometimes desperately need:
On our infinite possibilities:
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
On optimism:
"I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."
On the restorative power of nature:
"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be."
On personal power:
"The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands."
On gratitude:
"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy."
On human nature and hope:
"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death. ... I think peace and tranquility will return again."
On happiness:
"Whoever is happy will make others happy, too."
On human potential:
"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!"
Happy birthday, Anne! Your life, your spirit is as relevant as ever. May we, the living who are blessed with your example and inspiration, live today more fully and humanly.
Consequences
I’ve earned them,
I’ll deal with them.
Sometimes, sometimes,
Trust can be regained,
Sometimes.
Sometimes there are
Second chances,
But only sometimes.
I’ll learn.
I’ve been given many chances by a few.
And, I hope, honored them.
But I’ve learned that most
Do not give one another chance.
I’ll learn.
I’ll model for others
The grace with which one can give
Second chances, or more.
All it takes is a heart
A soul, an ability to protect
Yourself from harm;
And humility.
Enough humility to know
Anyone can need a second chance.
God does not make garbage.
Do not throw people out.
I’ll deal with them.
Sometimes, sometimes,
Trust can be regained,
Sometimes.
Sometimes there are
Second chances,
But only sometimes.
I’ll learn.
I’ve been given many chances by a few.
And, I hope, honored them.
But I’ve learned that most
Do not give one another chance.
I’ll learn.
I’ll model for others
The grace with which one can give
Second chances, or more.
All it takes is a heart
A soul, an ability to protect
Yourself from harm;
And humility.
Enough humility to know
Anyone can need a second chance.
God does not make garbage.
Do not throw people out.
Jumat, 12 Juni 2009
Genocide - Free Palestine (Saturday Sonata)
...2009... Imagine life under these conditions: Living in limbo under a foreign occupier. Having no self-determination, no right of return, and no power over your daily life. Being in constant fear, economically strangled, and collectively punished.
Having your free movement denied by enclosed population centers, closed borders, regular curfews, roadblocks, checkpoints, electric fences, and separation walls. Having your homes regularly demolished and land systematically stolen to build settlements for encroachers in violation of international law prohibiting an occupier from settling its population on conquered land.
Having your right to essential services denied - to emergency health care, education, employment, and enough food and clean water.
Being forced into extreme poverty, having your crops destroyed, and being victimized by punitive taxes. Having no right for redress in the occupier's courts under laws only protecting the occupier. Being regularly targeted by incursions and attacks on the ground and from the air.
Being willfully harassed, ethnically cleansed, arrested, incarcerated, tortured, and slaughtered on any pretext, including for your right of self-defense. Having no rights on your own land in your own country for over six decades and counting. Vilified for being Muslims and called terrorists, Jihadists, crazed Arabs, and fundamentalist extremists. Victimized by a slow-motion genocide to destroy you.
According to Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, Israel has conducted state-sponsored genocide against the Palestinians for decades and intensively in Gaza. In a September 2006 Electronic Intifada article titled "Genocide in Gaza" he wrote: "A genocide is taking place in Gaza....An average of eight Palestinians die daily in the Israeli attacks on the Strip. Most of them are children. Hundreds are maimed, wounded and paralyzed. (It's become) a daily business, now reported (only) in the internal pages of the local press, quite often in microscopic fonts. The chief culprits are the Israeli pilots who have a field day," like shooting fish in a barrel. Why not, they're only Muslims, so who'll notice or care.
A Native American thanksgiving
This is lovely - from Episcopal Café's Speaking to the Soul.
Daily Reading for June 12 • Enmegahbowh, Priest and Missionary, 1902
Leader: For our ancestors who built nations and cultures; who thrived and prospered long before the coming of strangers; for the forfeit of their lives, their homes, their lands, and their freedoms sacrificed to the rise of new nations and new worlds.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.
Leader: For the wealth of our lands; for minerals in the earth; for the plants and waters and animals on the earth; for the birds, the clouds and rain; for the sun and moon in the sky and the gifts they gave to our people that enabled the rise of new world economics. All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.
Leader: For oceans, streams, rivers, lakes, and other waters of our lands that provide bountifully for us; for clams, lobsters, salmon, trout, shrimp, and abalone; for the pathways the waters have provided.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.
Leader: For the friendship that first welcomed all to our shores; for the courage of those who watched their worlds change and disappear and for those who led in the search for new lives; for our leaders today who fight with courage and great heart for us.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.
Leader: For the strength and beauty of our diverse Native cultures; for the traditions that give structure to our lives, that define who we are; for the skills of our artists and craftspeople and the gifts of their hands.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.
Leader: For the spirituality and vision that gave our people the courage and faith to endure; that brought many to an understanding and acceptance of the love of Christ, our Brother and Savior.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.
Leader: Accept, O God, Creator, our honor song, and make our hearts thankful for what we have been given. Make us humble for what we have taken. Make us glad as we return some measure of what we have been given. Strengthen our faith and make us strong in the service of our people, in the name of our Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ, your Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
From “A Native American Thanksgiving for the Americas and Their People” offered at the National Cathedral in 1992 and quoted in The Wideness of God’s Mercy: Litanies to Enlarge Our Prayer, revised and updated edition, compiled and adapted by Jeffery Rowthorn with W. Alfred Tisdale. Copyright © 2007. Used by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY. www.churchpublishing.org
Anne Frank centre stage on 80th 'birthday'
Had she survived, Anne Frank would have celebrated her 80th birthday today.
From DutchNews.nl
Friday 12 June 2009
The diaries and other writing by Jewish teenager Anne Frank, who hid in a secret attic in Amsterdam for two years during World War II are to go on permanent display, the government announced on Thursday.
'Her diaries and writing will come home,' to the museum now housed in her former home, the statement said.
Three diaries, a note book of short stories and a collection of her favourite quotes will go on show from November 1.
The documents have been donated to the museum by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, which was given them by Anne's father Otto. He was the only one of the family to survive the concentration camps and died in 1980.
Short life
Anne would have turned 80 on Friday if she had survived the war and a number of events have been planned to mark the occasion. On Friday evening there will be a live tv broadcast from the Prinsengracht museum with guests from the Netherlands and abroad.
At Madame Tussauds waxworks museum, artist Silvester Peperkamp is painting a portrait of how Anne may have looked if she was alive today.
Meanwhile, the shed at Westerbork transit camp, where Anne was put to work dismantling batteries after her capture in 1944, is to be rebuilt on its original location.
The shed has been used for agricultural storage in Veendam since 1957.
For a list of international events click here
[Cross posted at Blazing Indiscretions and Antemedius.]
Kamis, 11 Juni 2009
Friday Morning Music with Zoe Keating
-Zoe Keating @ La Boule Noire Paris Oct 23, 2008-
Spc. Kenneth Jacobs death a year ago and tragedy goes on
"This is a cross post in full. A soldier's widow needs help for justice.
I receive a lot of emails, heart tugging emails, and once in a while the sender is begging for help. They feel they are out of hope and out of help. This is one of them. I was asked to post this and I'm doing it praying someone out there can help this widow get the justice denied her husband.
Huffing deaths are not suicide. They are doing it to seek relief. Spc. Jacobs was put on Zoloft and we all know there are problems with this. You can't give them medication this strong and simply hope for the best without any kind of therapy. Yet when Spc. Jacobs was found dead in the barracks, that was the end of it. There were no more follow up stories of yet one more non-combat death not counted. Not one more headline grabbing story of a young soldier's death following PTSD and not treated properly. Above all of this no story of the young widow and her children left behind with no income, no death insurance and no help from the military under survivors benefits. Read her story and if you can help her, contact me and I'll give you her contact information. There has to be help for her out there somewhere. My God! Do we really support the troops and honor military families or don't we?
Soldier from Holly Springs dies
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
HOLLY SPRINGS (WTVD) -- The Army is investigating the death of a Schofield Barracks soldier from North Carolina found dead on base earlier this week.
Spc. Kenneth Jacobs, a 22-year-old from Holly Springs, N.C., was found unconscious and not breathing Monday.
Paramedics tried to revive him but were unsuccessful and declared him dead at the scene.
Jacobs was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He moved to Hawaii in 2006. He returned in October from a deployment to Iraq.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6228338
I receive a lot of emails, heart tugging emails, and once in a while the sender is begging for help. They feel they are out of hope and out of help. This is one of them. I was asked to post this and I'm doing it praying someone out there can help this widow get the justice denied her husband.
Huffing deaths are not suicide. They are doing it to seek relief. Spc. Jacobs was put on Zoloft and we all know there are problems with this. You can't give them medication this strong and simply hope for the best without any kind of therapy. Yet when Spc. Jacobs was found dead in the barracks, that was the end of it. There were no more follow up stories of yet one more non-combat death not counted. Not one more headline grabbing story of a young soldier's death following PTSD and not treated properly. Above all of this no story of the young widow and her children left behind with no income, no death insurance and no help from the military under survivors benefits. Read her story and if you can help her, contact me and I'll give you her contact information. There has to be help for her out there somewhere. My God! Do we really support the troops and honor military families or don't we?
I’m writing to you to tell you about my husband, SPC. Kenneth Robert Jacobs who passed away on June 23rd 2008."
Ken graduated basic training from Ft. Benning GA , in August 2006 and was stationed at Schoffield Barracks in Hawaii. The unit that he was assigned to was already in Iraq and he joined them there in Nov. 2006. Ken’s duties in Iraq included house to house searches, guard duty, tower duty, and gunner on Humvees. During Ken’s 1 year deployment his hummer had been hit by 4 IED’s. He never complained about being there and said he knew they were helping the Iraqi people. Ken was the only one in his unit that received The Leader of The Pack award twice while deployed.
His deployment ended in Nov. 2007 and Ken said they all had to have a physical and debriefing before they could come home. He said they were told how to answer any questions asked, if they wanted to go home right away and not to stay for more evaluation. They were told that nightmares were normal and would go away in time, and not to mention anything they had to do over there to anyone. He was also told “anyone who had been hit with an IED go stand in that line” which he did. Then they were all asked as a group “who wants more testing done?” and no one raised their hands. Ken said he “didn’t want to look like a loser in front of the other guys” so he didn’t raise his hand.
Because Ken had answered all of the questions “correctly” he got to come home on leave for 4 weeks. After his leave him and I flew back to Hawaii and got married. Myself and my 3 year old daughter moved to Hawaii in Feb. 2008.
At this time I noticed that Ken became very angry easily. His drinking was out of control and he would have terrible nightmares, thrashing around in bed. We were getting into terrible fights and one night the MP’s were called. Ken had to see a Psychiatrist and told him about some of the things he had to do and things he saw in Iraq . The doctor told him “No wonder you’re messed up!” This doctor diagnosed him with PTSD and put him on Zoloft. I believe this was in March of 2008. After this he really wasn’t getting any better. In May of 2008 I was out on the porch and heard Ken yelling at my 3 year old to go out the window. He was screaming “Go! Go! Go!” Then fell to the floor and started to have some type of seizure. When it was over, he got up and sat in a chair and started typing on the computer. I asked Kenny “What just happen?” and he didn’t remember any of it. I told him he needed go back to the doctor. He went back to the doctor and told him what happen and he increased his Zoloft.
That’s it! No counseling for him or I to understand what was going on, nothing.
The two of us were still fighting horribly and after another blowout he decided to spend the night at the barracks with his buddies on June 22, 2008. Ken went to his detail the next morning and we made up. We had an OBGYN appointment that morning, because I was 4 months pregnant, and Ken was going to meet me there. He asked his friend if he could take a nap in his room until the appointment and his friend said yes. That was around 9:00am. His friend came back to his room at 1:00pm and found Kenny lying in bed not moving. He rolled him over to find Ken had passed away in his sleep.
Because Ken was found alone in the room there was a criminal investigation. They determined there was no foul play and ruled his death accidental. The initial autopsy report did not show anything so all of Ken’s reports and test were sent to DC to be analyzed to determine cause of death. After waiting for 4 months the doctor who wrote the autopsy report said there were no drugs or alcohol in Ken’s system. They also didn’t find any Zoloft which I knew he took every day. The only thing they could find was a trace of difluoroethane which is a common ingredient in “dust-off” So in his opinion, this was probably Ken’s cause of death.
The investigators did find one can of dust-off in the room behind the T.V. on the opposite side of the room where Ken was found. According to the National Institute on Drug abuse the key danger of inhalant abuse is Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome. This is when a huffer dies within seconds of taking a hit of the inhalant, usually from heart failure. Since the only can of dust-off was found on the other side of the room on a shelf behind a T.V, wouldn’t this cause of death be unlikely? I may never know how my husband died, and nothing will bring him back. But I do know the Army did not provide him or I with counseling for his diagnosed PTSD. He was given medication and told that would solve all of his problems. Ken was scheduled for deployment again in Nov. 2008
Why isn’t there a program in place for these soldiers to get the help they need when returning home from deployment? Why are these kids given a choice to get counseling, and make it seem like punishment, or an embarrassment? Scheduled counseling should be mandatory when a soldier is put on any anti-depressant or antipsychotic medication. More intense screening should be done to determine brain injury for soldiers who had been hit with IED’s. Sgt. Sipes (kens team leader) told me that “one of the IED’s that they hit was so bad that Kenny was bleeding from his ears. He and Ken were taken to a Med Aide station to be observed for 48 hours but no tests were done.
He said Ken was never the same after that. He was always the comic relief guy, he said. Ken would make light of any situation they were in, and always had a smile on his face. He told me after that day his personality changed. He kept to himself and the sgt. knew that there was something wrong with him. They came home shortly after that. Sgt. Sipes was one of the soldiers who found Ken that terrible day and tried to revive him.
My husband was 21 years old. He left behind a wife, stepdaughter, mother, 2 younger brothers, sister, grandparents, many friends, and a son who he will never get to see.
Please don’t let this happen to another soldier, or family. Better screening of Traumatic Brain Injuries and mandatory counseling for returning solders’ who are prescribed anti depressants or anti psychotic medication should be our governments’ top priority.
Because of the autopsy determination myself and my children have been denied the VA's DIC benefits. My husband had not changed his beneficiary from his mother to me after our marriage of which he was supposed to be counseled on and never was after our marriage. My mother in-law has received the insurance money. She does not help me out. I am on SSI and live with my mother, daughter, son, brother, sister and nephew. Why am I and my family being punished for what the military has "determined" to be my husband’s cause of death? Why didn't my husband receive the help he needed instead of the medications handed out like candy. If my husband had been receiving help for his diagnosed PTSD this would never have happened. Now, I am without my husband. My children without a father. How are families of soldiers that commit suicide awarded the benefits and not mine? Isn’t it time the military supported it's soldiers and their families? Please help me to receive the DIC benefits that my husband's family deserves for his service to our country.
It is time the military stands behind its families of the soldiers that have served our country. Death should not be discriminated and families should not suffer any more then they have. If a soldier gives up and commits suicide the family is taken care of. These families have a right to know that if what the servicemen and women are asked to do and if what they have seen affects them mentally, their service to our country is forgotten and the surviving family’s will also be forgotten.
We have also been in contact with Mrs.XXXXX. Her husband passed away days after Kenny from the same circumstances. She was told before she received the death certificate that the cause of death would need to be changed in order for her to receive her benefits (which read the same on my husband’s certificate). She did so before applying and has received the benefits. We were not told this. Also, her husband did not receive the help he also deserved to prevent his death from happening. We are not alone and unfortunately unless mandatory counseling is given to these soldiers no mater the rank, there will be more of us. Please help us with our fight for our survivor benefits, to reclassify my husband’s death, and to enforce counseling for these soldiers to prevent this from happening. My husband did not die from huffing, an overdose or suicide. My husband’s death was clearly service related and he never came home from Iraq.
How can this be ignored?
Sincerely,
Chriscedia D. Jacobs
Selasa, 09 Juni 2009
family and loved ones
"
in light of the recent round of gay marriage legislation, endless war and occupation, immigration roundups, and overall sense of doom and foreboding about nearly everything, i thought we could use some beauty and warmth. i love van morrison- and i searched high and low for a free recording of him- to no avail. i own irish heartbeat and while i am not irish, i can appreciate the traditional music. however, this song- written by van morrison- is my favorite. enjoy and hug someone you love if you can...
van morrison- irish heartbeat
Oh won't you stay
Stay a while with your own ones
Don't ever stray
Stray so far from your own ones
'cause the world is so cold
Don't care nothing for your soul
That you share with your own ones
Don't rush away
Rush away from your own ones
Just one more day
One more day with your own ones
cause the world is so cold
Don't care nothing bout your soul
That you share with your own ones
There's a stranger
And he's standing at your door
Might be your best friend
might be your brother
You may never know
I'm going back
Going back to my own ones
Come back to talk
Talk a while with my own ones
'cause the world is so cold
Don't care nothing bout your soul
You share with your own ones
Oh won't you stay
One more day with your own ones
Don't rush away
Rush away from your own ones
This old world is so cold,
Don't care nothing for your soul
You share with your own ones
billy connolly singing irish heartbeat
"
in light of the recent round of gay marriage legislation, endless war and occupation, immigration roundups, and overall sense of doom and foreboding about nearly everything, i thought we could use some beauty and warmth. i love van morrison- and i searched high and low for a free recording of him- to no avail. i own irish heartbeat and while i am not irish, i can appreciate the traditional music. however, this song- written by van morrison- is my favorite. enjoy and hug someone you love if you can...
van morrison- irish heartbeat
Oh won't you stay
Stay a while with your own ones
Don't ever stray
Stray so far from your own ones
'cause the world is so cold
Don't care nothing for your soul
That you share with your own ones
Don't rush away
Rush away from your own ones
Just one more day
One more day with your own ones
cause the world is so cold
Don't care nothing bout your soul
That you share with your own ones
There's a stranger
And he's standing at your door
Might be your best friend
might be your brother
You may never know
I'm going back
Going back to my own ones
Come back to talk
Talk a while with my own ones
'cause the world is so cold
Don't care nothing bout your soul
You share with your own ones
Oh won't you stay
One more day with your own ones
Don't rush away
Rush away from your own ones
This old world is so cold,
Don't care nothing for your soul
You share with your own ones
billy connolly singing irish heartbeat
"
Minggu, 07 Juni 2009
Billy Graham & the Rise of the Republican South: An Interview With Historian Steven P. Miller
The topic below was originally posted on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal. In the age of Barack Obama, both the Republican Party as well as the South appear marginalized and out of step with the rest of America. Yet it wasn’t so long ago that the South represented the foundation of America’s conservative hegemony. Starting with Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, the Republican Party prevailed in nine out of the next fourteen presidential elections with a reliable Southern base.
Specifically, the Republican Party exploited white Southern resentment against the cause of civil rights and integration. The "Southern strategy" as it was later called, enabled Republicans to end the Democratic Party's previous domination of the South following the Civil War. A key figure in that realignment was the renowned evangelist Billy Graham.
Historian, Steven P. Miller, first explored Billy Graham’s role in this realignment with his doctorate thesis entitled, “The Politics of Decency: Billy Graham, Evangelicalism, and the End of the Solid South, 1950-1980.” Miller later converted that thesis into his current book, Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South, recently published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Miller’s book delineates how Graham allowed his iconic celebrity to be used by national politicians so they could make inroads into the South. His book also details how Graham capitalized on his leverage as a regional heavyweight to influence presidents and policy.
With President Dwight Eisenhower, Graham had an ideological soul mate as both valued “moderation” between segregationists and those who championed integration. Graham believed that racism could not be overcome through legislation and the heavy hand of federal power. Instead, he advocated changing the hearts and minds of people “one soul at a time” through his integrated “crusades” where he preached his love thy neighbor gospel.
Under the presidencies of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, Graham straddled the fence between promoting racial tolerance and preserving local southern autonomy or “states rights.” In that regard, Graham was an intimate part of Richard Nixon's inner circle after he became president in 1968. Graham’s defenders argue that he helped the South transition from its shameful past while preserving stability. His critics claim that Graham was a cowardly apologist for white privilege who didn’t do nearly enough to advance the cause of civil rights. Personally, like many liberals, I'm partial to the latter argument.
Ross Douthat writes in his April 19th review of Miller's book in the New York Times that,
“Neither story is the whole truth, but both are true. And it’s a credit to Steven P. Miller that his ‘Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South,’ a study of the evangelist’s relationship to the cause of civil rights on the one hand and the cause of conservatism on the other, does justice to the tensions and complexities involved — for Graham, for the South and for the country. In Miller’s account, one of 20th-century America’s most important religious leaders emerges as a representative political actor as well, whose example is worth pondering less because he was courageous than because he often wasn’t.Miller, who earned a PH.D degree in history from Vanderbilt University and has taught at numerous institutions, including Washington University, Webster University and Goshen College, agreed to a telephone podcast interview with me about his book and our conversation was just under thirty-six minutes.
The story of the civil rights era is usually told as a collision between heroes and villains: the marchers on one side and the K.K.K. on the other; the Martin Luther Kings and Lyndon Johnsons making the way straight for justice, and the George Wallaces and Bull Connors standing sneering in their way. But the movement’s successes and failures were ultimately determined by the choices of more unheroic men — men like Billy Graham.”
Among the topics covered is the difference between hard core fundamentalism and evangelicalism, Graham’s role in facilitating Republican inroads into the previously reliable Democratic South, whether his middle ground on civil rights was courageous or cowardly, Graham's alliance with Eisenhower, his friendship with Lyndon Johnson, the intimate collaboration with Richard Nixon and the legacy he left behind.
Please refer to the flash media player below.
This interview can also be at accessed at no cost via the Itunes Store by searching for either the “Intrepid Liberal Journal” or “Robert Ellman.”
Naked PeaceLuis plays Vincente Fernandez
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PeaceLuis's comment: "Self-Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man" evolving as Exhibitionist wearing only a guitar Stay in Bed & Grow Hair Hair P.E.A.C.E.
I know PeaceLuis. We're not best friends or anything, but I know him well enough to know that he has made a live-long commitment to peace.
I met him among a group of activists who stand vigil for peace and against active warfare in the Middle East. When you're just standing around holding a sign for an hour at a time, you have a chance to get to know one another. PeaceLuis is a Peace Corp alumni; he must have been one of the first.
He is an artist who does a lot of performance art. Recently he's taken to producing YouTube videos. I'm a subscriber. This is his latest one; at this moment it has 36 views. I think it is a bit of a take off (ha ha) on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's bed-in stunt.
Peace Luis puts it out there for peace. What am I doing for peace?
""
PeaceLuis's comment: "Self-Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man" evolving as Exhibitionist wearing only a guitar Stay in Bed & Grow Hair Hair P.E.A.C.E.
I know PeaceLuis. We're not best friends or anything, but I know him well enough to know that he has made a live-long commitment to peace.
I met him among a group of activists who stand vigil for peace and against active warfare in the Middle East. When you're just standing around holding a sign for an hour at a time, you have a chance to get to know one another. PeaceLuis is a Peace Corp alumni; he must have been one of the first.
He is an artist who does a lot of performance art. Recently he's taken to producing YouTube videos. I'm a subscriber. This is his latest one; at this moment it has 36 views. I think it is a bit of a take off (ha ha) on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's bed-in stunt.
Peace Luis puts it out there for peace. What am I doing for peace?
""
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(The American Revolution : Campaign 1776)