Nov. 5th, 2007

Code pink

Blastin' from the past -- Arrested for peace in D.C. March 8, 2003


Just found this video on You Tube.

I was in D.C. for the Code Pink rally and march just a few days before the bombs started falling in Iraq. The police had surrounded the White House so that we couldn't march to anywhere near it. They were allowing no more than 25 of the 10,000 or so of us to get close, but these women were not allowed to even go up to the gate that surrounds the property.

Since we weren't allowed near, the rest of us formed a large circle a few blocks round and linked by our hands. I was near the concrete blocked entrance to Pennsylvanian Avenue, and Starhawk led several of us in a spiral dance aimed at peace and the destruction of evil in the White House.

Meanwhile, these women, who incuded Utah's own Terry Tempest Williams, Alice Walker (of A Color Purple's fame), Maxine Hong Kingston and many others decided to make a bigger statement and risk arrest in order to call attention to the administration's clood-thirsty schemes. Amy Goodman who was reporting for Democracy Now! (and who had also MC'd the rally previous to the march) and Kirsten Michel who was filming the protest were also arrested. 



Feb. 12th, 2007

Bought Gov

Where is Hillary's Humanity?

Yes, Hillary is Pro-War. Yes, Hillary was wrong about Iraq as I witnessed first hand here

And for her, no option, including nuclear war with Iran is "off the table". Are we willing to elect someone who would use a nuclear weapon against innocent people just because she is a woman and a Democrat (in name only)? She was wrong about Iraq -- are we willing to murder hundreds of thousands for another mistake? Or is this beating of the war drums an attempt to win over the Repubs that dislike her so much?

The following very important piece was written by Anne Miller of New Hampshire Peace Action:

"I first heard Hillary Clinton speak some sixteen years ago when I was a student at Wellesley College. At that time, she was stumping for her husband’s first presidential campaign and also speaking passionately about the need to protect and nurture our most valuable resource: children. I liked her then (she was a Wellesley woman, after all), voted for her husband, and can still remember the sense of elation I felt on that Tuesday evening in November 1992 when Bill Clinton won the U.S. Presidency.

On Saturday afternoon, I pressed into the Concord High School gym with hundreds of others to see and hear what Hillary had to say about her own presidential vision.  As I found a seat I pondered an idea that could make any feminist giddy: For the first time in U.S. history, there could be a woman president!

During the program, she said some things I really liked.  She was adamant about keeping abortion “safe, legal and rare,” and mentioned the need for conservation twice during her speech. (That said, she had a black glossy SUV waiting for her outside that I’d bet gets less than fourteen mpg.)  However, she had nothing of substance to say about Iraq. And she did not commit to do the one thing that the Senate can do within its constitutional power to end the Iraq occupation – vote against the $100 billion supplemental budget request when it comes up for a vote later this spring.

Afterwards I joined the throng surrounding her – most were people who wanted books signed and pictures taken, for she really is like a rock star – to ask her about a statement she made last week about Iran in which she said “no options are off the table.”  I asked her how she could threaten nuclear genocide on another nation’s children. She told me that we cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, for it would be an “existential” threat to the U.S., and repeated that all options are on the table. When I tried to ask her about the very real role the U.S. is playing in spurring proliferation with our repeated threats and actual nuclear arsenals, she said she didn’t want to discuss it and turned away stiffly.

Now I’m really glad that I majored in philosophy at Wellesley, so I have at least a cursory grasp of concepts like “existential.” It’s interesting that Hillary used the word, because it’s not a term used much in American political vernacular.  It’s much more common in Israel, where the term is used to describe possible, rather than actual, threats. For instance, from Israel’s perspective, the whole Middle East is an existential threat.

Yes, Hillary, we do need moral leadership. We need candidates from both sides of the political aisle who are staunchly committed to solutions for international challenges grounded in diplomacy, international law, and human rights, instead of military power and the threat and use of nuclear weapons.  It’s not Hillary’s being a woman that is a problem - it’s her humanity.  Never again can the U.S. use nuclear weapons on another nation’s children. And we, the good citizens of New Hampshire, must not support any candidate who believe that the use of nuclear weapons can ever be an option."

 

Jan. 24th, 2007

Film

The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib

The only Sundance Film I've been able to catch so far this festival is "The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" a lucid and very important film.

I wait listed this film last Saturday, but you don't have to go to Sundance or wait too long to see this film, which will be debuting on HBO February 22nd.



Since our nation attacked another country, I feel it's the duty of every American to bear witness to the evil of this war. This film offers a glimpse of some of that evil. It shows us some of the damage that we do to ourselves and to others when we choose to unleash the evil that is war. It's also an exploritory look at how everyday people can commit such atrocities.

The film has interviews with many of the soldiers that have served time for their part in the atrocities of Abu Ghraib and interviews of some of Abu Ghraib's victims, mixed in with clips of Bush and Rumsfeld spouting off B.S. and the infamous photos of the tortured detainees.

The director, Rory Kennedy, was present at the screening to answer questions. One of the questions that came from an audience member was regarding an interview in the film of John Yoo, formerly of the Justice department and according to Jack Huberman's 101 People Who Are Really Screwing America a  "Counselor of War and Torture" (and also #35 on that list). Yoo gave the justification that the methods used in Abu Ghraib were justified because these people are terrorists who torture others (not taking into account that 75 - 90% of those held at Abu Ghraib at the time were estimated to be innocent). The audience member was concerned that there was nothhing to counter Yoo's argument in the film, which he believed is an attractive argument of the right-wing. Kennedy stated that she believed that the film in it's entirety countered Yoo's argument -- but then she went on to tell of another George's response to prisoners of war -- George Washington, who regardless of the brutatlity of the British on the American POWs, responded with a higher moral authority.  I found the story in greater detail here . The whole piece (written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., brother of the director of this film, incidentally)  is worth reading, but the quote from Washington was recorded as this:

Treat them with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British army in their Treatment of our unfortunate brethren.

Jan. 20th, 2007

Film

Sun. January 21 Sundance Screenings for PPJAG*

*Progressives, Political Junkies, Activists, and Greenies

Sundance Film Festival 2007 Screenings and Events for Sunday, January 21: The Unforseen, Wonders Are Many, The Devil Came on Horseback, Miss Navajo, Joe Strummer, and many more below the cut


Peace big blue

Pro-War Hillary is in for 2008

It's now official. As an anti-war, pro-peace person, I will not be able to support Hillary, as much as I'd like to see a woman president.

Back in March of 2003, just a couple of weeks before the war started, I was fortunate to be involved in the Code Pink events in Washington D.C. About 50 us were able to meet with Hillary Clinton to express our views of the war.

Thanks to Kirsten Michel, who filmed the meeting (about 16 minutes), I'm able to post the video on this blog. It's a good reminder that just because someone is a Democrat, they don't always have progressive values.

(Thank you to Kirsten Michel for the video, and thanks to my friends Rex and Rene who gave me their frequent flyer miles so that I could attend these events)

Jan. 19th, 2007

Film

Sat. Jan 20th Sundance 2007 for progressives, political junkies, activists and greenies

Got some free time on Saturday? Here are Saturday's Sundance Film Festival films and events for progressives, political junkies, activists and greenies -- January 20, 2007
Waitlist Tips

Film

Sundance 2007 for progressives, political junkies, activists and greenies - Fri Jan. 19th

I'm getting to this a bit late, so I'm only listing screenings and events for this evening. Don't worry if you don't have tickets you are going to Salt Lake Screeings -- wait listing is a great way to go and I've yet to not get into any film that I've waitlisted in the past 9 years that I've been doing it. You can find wait list tips here . Plan on a meal at one of the downtown eateries for the in-between time of receiving your waitlist # and lining up for the film (an hour to an hour and a half). Next door to the Broadway theatre downtown is Mr. Z's Cucina with really yummy eats. There are lots of great places to eat with in a very close walking distance of the Rose Wagner venue as well. Other Wait List Tips

January 19th (Friday)


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